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ESSAY 


O  N    T  H  E 


LEARNING  of  SHAKESPEARE. 


I 


^  A  N 

ESSAY 

ON    THE 

LEARNING  of  SHAKESPEARE: 

ADDRESSED   TO 

JOSEPH  CRADOCK,  Efqj 
THE    SECOND     EDITION, 

WITH 

LARGE    ADDITIONS. 


E    Y 

RICHARD    F  A  I^  M  E  R,  B.  D. 
Fellow  of  Emmanuel-College,  Cambridge; 

A  N  D    o  F 

The  Society  of  A  n  t  i  q^u  aries,  London. 


CAMBRIDGE: 
Printed  by  J. Archdeacon,  Printer  to  the  Un  i  ve  r  s  i  t  r. 
For  J.  Wood  YE  R,  in  Caf?ibridge  ;  and  Sold  by  J.  Bee- 
croft,  in  Pater-nofter-Row  ;  J.  Dodsley,  in  Pall- 
Mall ;  T.  Ca dell,  in  the  Strand;  and  M.  Hinges- 
ton,  near  Temple  Bar,  London. 

M.DCC.LXVll.^ 


F3 


•L-^ 


PREFACE 

TO    THE 

SECOND    EDITION. 


THE  Author  of  the  following  Essay  was  fof- 
licitous  only  for  the  honour  of  Shakefpeare  :  he 
hath  however,  in  his  ozvn  capacity,  little  reafon  to 
complain  of  occa/jorial Cnt'icks,  or  Qniicks  by  proftjfion. 
The  very  Few,  who  have  been  plenfed  to  controvert 
any  part  of  his  DoiStrine,  have  favoured  him  with 
better  manners,  than  arguments  ;  and  claim  his 
thanks  for  a  further  opportunity  of  demonftrating 
the  futility  of  Theoretick  reafoning  againfi  Matter  of 
Fa£l.  It  is  indeed  flrange,  that  any  real  Friends  of 
our  immortal  Poet  (hould  be  ftill  willing  to  force 
him  into  a  fituation,  which  is  not  tenable:  treat  him 
as  a  learned  Man,  and  what  (liall  excufe  the  moft 
grofs  violations  of  Hiftory,  Chronology,  and  Geo- 
graphy ?   ^ 

OJ  -arf/irfK,  if  >)y  •steio-j)?  is  the  Motto  of  every 
Pokmick :  like  his  Brethren  at  the  Amphitheatre^  he 
holds  it  a  merit  to  die  hard;  and  will  not  fay,  Enough ^ 
though  the  Battle  be  decided.  "  Were  it  Ihewn, 
fays  fome  one,  that  the  old  Bard  borrowed  all  his 
allufions  from  Engli/I)  books  then  publiflied,  our 
F-Jfayijl  might  have  pofiibly  ellablifhed  his  Syftem." 

—  In 


PREFACE. 

In  good  time! — This  had  fcnrccly  been  at- 
tempted by  Peter  Burman  himfelf,  with  the  Library 

of  Shakefpeare  before   him. "  Truly,  as   Mr. 

Dogberry  lays,  for  jnim  own  part,  if  I  were  as  tedious  as 
a  King,  I  could  find  in  my  heart  to  beftow  it  all  on  this 
SubjecSt :"  but  where  (hnuld  I  meet  with  a  Reader  ? 
■ —  When  the  main  Pillars  are  taken  away,  the  whole 
Building  falls  in  courfc  :  Nothing  hath  been,  or  can 
be,  pointed  out,  which  is  not  eafily  removed  ;  or 
rather,  which  was  not  virtually  removed  before :  a 
very  little  Ajialcgy  will  do  the  bufinefs.  I  fhall  there- 
fore have  no  occafion  to  trouble  myfelf  any  further; 
and  may  venture  to  call  my  Pamphlet,  in  the  words 
of  a  pleafant  Declaimer  againfl:  SermcJiS  on  the  thirtieth 
of  January^  '*  an  Anfwcr  to  every  thing  that  (hall 
hereafter  be  written  on  the  Subjecft." 

But  "  this  method  of  reafoning  will  prove  any  one 
Ignorant  of  the  Languages,  who  hath  written  when 

Tranllations  were  extant." Shade  of  Burgerfdi- 

cius  !  —  does  it  follow,  becaufe  Shakefpeare' 5  early  life 
was  incompatible  with  a  courfe  of  Education  —  whofe 
Contemporaries,  Friends  and  Foes,  nay,  and  himfelf 
likewife,  agree  in  his  want  of  what  is  ufually  called 
Literature  —  whofe  milliakes  from  equivocal  Tranlla- 
tions, and  even  typographical  Errors,  cannot  polUbly 
be  accounted  for  oiherwife,  — that  Locke^  .to  whom 
not  one  of  thefe  circumflances  is  applicable,  under- 
ftood  no  Greek  f  —  I  fufpc6t,  Rollins  Opinion  of  our 
Philofopher  was  not  founded  on  this  argument. 

Shakefpeare  wanted  not  the  Stilts  of  Languages  to 
raife  him  above  all  other  men.  The  quotation  from 
Lilly  in  the  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  if  indeed  it  be  his, 
ftrongly  proves  the  extent  of  his  reading :  had  he 
known  Terence,  he  would  not  have  quoted  erroneoufly 

from 


PREFACE. 

from  his  Grammar.  Every  one  liath  met  with  men 
in  common  life,  who,  according  to  the  language  of 
the  Water-poet^  "  got  only  from  PoJJ'im  to  Pojfet^^ 
2nd  yet  will  throw  out  a  line  occafionally  from  their 
Jccidence  or  their  Cato  de  Morihm  with  tolerable  pro- 
priety.   If,  however,  the  old  Editions  be  trufted 

in  this  paflage,  our  Author's  memory  fomewhat  fail- 
ed him  in  point  of  Concord. 

The  rage  of  Parallclifms  is  almofl:  over,  and  in 
truth  nothing  can  be  more  abfurd.  "  This  was 
ftolen  from  one  Claffick,  —  That  from  another  ;" — 
and  had  I  not  ftept  in  to  his  refcue,  ^oov  Shakcfpcare 
had  been  ftript  as  naked  of  ornament,  as  when  he 
firft  held  Horfes  at  the  door  of  the  Playhoufe. 

The  late  ingenious  and  modeft  Mr.  Dodjlcy  de- 
clared himfelf 

*'  Untutor'd  in  the  lore  of  Greece  or  Rome  .•" 
Yet  let  us  take  a  paflage  at  a  venture  from  any  of  his 
performances,  and  a  thoufand  to  one,  it  is  ftolen. 
Suppofe  it  be  his  celebrated  Compliment  to  the 
Ladies,  in  one  of  his  earliefl:  pieces.  The  Toy-jhop : 
"  A  good  Wife  makes  the  cares  of  the  World  (it 
eafy,  and  adds  a  fwcetnefs  to  its  pieafures ;  (lie  is  a 
Man's  beft  Companion  in  Profperity,  and  his  only 
Friend  in  Adverfity;  the  carefulleft  preferver  of  his 
Health,  and  the  kindert  Attendant  in  his  Sicknefs ; 
a  faithful  Advifer  in  Diftrefs,  a  Comforter  in  Afflic- 
tion, and  a  prudent  Manager  in  all  his  domeftic  Af- 
fairs."—  Plainly,  from  a  fragment  of  Euripides  pre- 
ferved  by  Stobaus. 

"  Fuvii  yy.^  h  >ix-/.o7<Ti  xj  vctrotg  ttco-sj 
rldirov  Eft,  duj[X!x.T    nv  otjcv)  xxXuig, 

'^Myviv jiAt^tf-<x(r* ! "  Par.  4to.  1623. 

A'lahoIiQ 


PREFACE. 

Makolio  in  the  TivcJftb-Night  of  Shahfpeare  hath 
foine  expreiTions  very  fimilar  to  Alnafchar  in  the  Ara- 
bian Tales :  which  perhaps  may  be  fufficient  ior  fame 
Criticks  to  prove  his  acquaintance  with  Arabic! 

It  feems  however,  at  laft,  tliat  "  Tajle  ibould  de- 
termine the  matter."  This,  as  Bardolph  exprefles  it, 
is  a  word  of  exceeding  good  c:mmand :  but  I  am  wilhng, 
that  tlie  Standard  itfelf  be  fomewhat  better  afcertain- 
ed  before  it  be  oppofed  to  demonrtrative  Evidence. 

Upon  the  whole,  I  may  confider  myfelf,  as  the 

Pioneer  of  the  Conmuntators :  I  have  removed  a  deal 
of  learned  Rubb'Jh^  and  pointed  out  to  them  Shake- 
fpeare's  track  in  the  ever-plcafing  Paihs  of  Nature. 
This  was  neceflarily  a  previous  Inquiry  ;  and  I  hope 
I  may  affume  with  feme  confidence,  what  one  of 
the  firll  Criticks  of  the  Age  was  pleafed  to  declare 
on  reading  the  former  Edition,  that  "  The  Queftion 
is  now  for  ever  decided." 


^*^  I  may  juft  remark,  left  they  be  miftaken  for 
Errata,  that  the  word  Catherine  in  the  4-th  page  is  writ- 
ten, according  to  the  old  Orthography,  for  Catharine ; 
and  that  the  paflage  in  the  5  ill  page  is  copied  from  Up- 
ton, who  improperly  calls  HoKatio  and  Marcellus  in  Ham- 
let, "  the  Cent'mehy 

In  p.  23.  1,  23.  for  had  probably  read  might  have  &c. 

In  p.  2. 1.  II.  for  EfTay  cf,  read  en  Sbake/peare, 

In  p  77.  1.26,  3her  ncntJcrjon,  add,  cr  Henry/on,  according  to  other 
Auihorities. 

In  p.  52.  at  the  bottom,  read,  Tullius  cf  olde  agt,  printed  with  the 
hoke  cfFrendJh'ipe,  by  -Yohn  Tituft,  Earl  of  Worcefter.  I  believe  the 
former  was  tranflattd  by  ii'yllyam  Wyrcejire,  alias  Bstaner. 

In  p.  S4.  1,28,  iotj'uficior,  read  Jujficieii. 


A  N 

ESSAY 

ON    THE 

LEARNING  of  SHAKESPEARE: 

ADDRESSED   TO 

JOSEPH  C  R  A  D  O  C  K,  Efqj 

"  QHakespeare,  fays  a  Brother  of  the  Crafty  a 
*^  is  a  vaft  garden  of  criticifm:"  and  certainly 
no  one  can  be  favoured  with  more  weeders  gratis. 

But  how  often,  my  dear  Sir,  are  weeds  and 
flowers  torn  up  indifcriminately^? —  the  ravaged  fpot 
is  re-planted  in  a  moment,  and  a  profufion  of  cri- 
tical thorns  thrown  over  it  for  fecurity. 

**  A  prudent  man  therefore  would  not  venture 
his  fingers  amongft  them." 

a  Mr.  Sexvard  in  his  Preface  to  Beaumont  and  Fletcher^ 
10  Vol.  8vo.    1750. 

A  Be 


2  AnESSAYonthe 

Be  however  in  little  pain  for  your  friend,  who  re- 
gards himfelf  fufficiently  to  be  cautious  : — yet  he  af- 
ferts  with  confidence,  that  no  improvement  can  be 
expeded,  whilft  the  natural  foil  is  miftaken  for  a 
hot-bed,  and  the  Natives  of  the  banks  of  Jvon  are 
fcientifically  choked  with  the  culture  of  exoticks. 

Thus  much  for  metaphor ;  it  is  contrary  to  the 
Statute  to  fly  out  fo  early :  but  who  can  tell,  whe- 
ther it  may  not  be  demonftrated  by  fome  critick  or 
other,  that  a  deviation  from  rule  is  peculiarly  happy 
in  an  Eflay  of  ShahJ'peare  ! 

You  have  long  known  my  opinion  concerning 
the  literary  acquifitions  of  our  immortal  Dramatift  j 
and  remember  how  I  congratulated  myfelf  on  my 
coincidence  with  the  laft  and  beft  of  his  Editors.  I 
told  you  however,  that  his  fmall  Latin  and  kfs 
Greek^  would  ftill  be  litigated,  and  you  fee  very  aflli- 
rcdly  that  I  was  not  miftaken.  The  trumpet  hath 
been  founded  againft  "  the  darling  projecfl  of  repre- 
fenting  Shakefpeare  as  one  of  the  illiterate  vulgar  ;** 
and  indeed  to  fo  good  purpofe,  that  I  would  by  all 
means   recommend  the  performer  to  the  army  of 

b  This  paflage  o^  Ben.  Jcyifon,  fo  often  quoted,  is  giv- 
en us  in  the  admirable  preface  to  the  late  Edition,  with 
a  various  reading,  *' fraall  Latin  and  no  Greek,"  which 
hath  been  held  up  to  the  Publick  for  a  modern  fophiili- 
cation  :  yet  whether  an  error  or  not,  it  was  adopted  a- 
bove  a  Century  ago  by  W.  Tovoers  in  a  Panegyrick  on 
Cart'wngl.'t .  His  Eulogy,  with  more  than  fifty  others,  oa 
this  now  forgotten  Poet,  was  prefixed  to  the  Edit.  1651. 

the 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.         3 

the  braying  Fa6lion^  recorded  by  Cervantes.  The 
teftimony  of  his  contemporaries  is  again  difputed  ; 
conftant  tradition  is  oppofed  by  flimfy  arguments  j 
and  nothing  is  heard,  but  confufioa  and  nonfenfe. 
One  could  fcarcely  imagine  this  a  topick  very  like- 
ly to  inflame  the  paflions  :  it  is  aflerted  by  Dryden^ 
that  "  thofe  who  accufe  him  to  have  wanted  learn- 
ing, give  him  the  greateft  commendation  ■"  yet  an 
attack  upon  an  article  of  faith  hath  been  ufually  re- 
ceived with  more  temper  and  complacence,  than  the 
unfortunate  opinion,  which  I  am  about  to  defend. 

But  let  us  previoufly  lament  with  every  lover  of 
Shakefpeare,  that  the  Qiieftion  was  not  fully  difcufled  , 
by  Mr.  Johtifon  himfelf :  what  he  fees  intuitively, 
others  muft  arrive  at  by  a  feries  of  proofs ;  and  I 
have  not  time  to  teach  with  prccifion  :  be  contented 
therefore  with  a  few  curfory  obfcrvations,  as  they 
may  happen  to  arife  from  the  Chaos  of  Papers,  you 
have  fo  often  laughed  at,  "  a  ftock  fufficient  to  fet 
up  an  Editor  in  form"  I  am  convinced  of  the 
ftrength  of  my  caufe,  and  fuperior  to  any  little  ad- 
vantage from  fophiftical  arrangements. 

General  pofitions  without  proofs  will  probably 
have  no  great  weight  on  either  fide,  yet  it  may  not 
feeni  fair  to  fupprefs  them  :  take  them  therefore  as 
their  authors  occur  to  me,  and  we  will  afterward 
proceed  to  particulars. 

The   teftimony   of  Ben.    ftands    foremoft ;    and 
A  2  fome 


4                  An  essay  on  the 
fome  have  held  it  fufficient  to  decide  the  contro- 
verfy  :  in  the  warmeft  Panegyrick,   that  ever  was 
written,  he  apologizes ^  for  what  he  fuppofed  the  only 
defedl  in  his  "  beloved  friend, 

Soul  of  the  age  ! 


Th'  applaufe !  delight !  the  wonder  of  our  ftage !  — 
whofe  memory  he  honoured  almoft  to  idolatry  :" 
and  confcious  of  the  worth  of  ancient  literature,  like 
any  other  man  on  the  fame  occafion,  he  rather  carries 
his  acquirements  above,  than  below  the  truth, 
*' Jealoufy  !  cries  Mr.  Upton;  People  will  allow 
others  any  qualities,  but  thofe  upon  which  they 
highly  value  themfdves"  Yes,  where  there  is  a 
competition,  and  the  competitor  formidable :  but, 
I  think,  this  Critick  himfelf  hath  fcarcely  fet  in  op- 
pofition  the  learning  oi  Shakefpeare  znAJonfon.  When 
a  fuperiority  is  univerfally  granted,  it  by  no  means 
appears  a  man's  literary  intereft  to  deprefs  the  re- 
putation of  his  Antagonift. 

In  truth  the  received  opinion  of  the  pride  an4 
malignity  of  Jcnfoti,  at  leall  in  the  earlier  part  of 
life,  is  abfolutely  groundlefs  :  at  this  time  fcarce  a 
play  or  a  poem  appeared  without  Bens  encomium, 
from  the  original  Shakifpeare  to  the  tranflator  of  Du 
Bart  as. 

But  Jofjfon  is  by  no  means  our  only  authority. 

'  ♦•  Though  thou  had& /mall  Latif:,  &c." 

Drayton 


Learning    of   Shakespeare.      5 

Drayton  the  countryman  and  acquaintance  of  Shake- 
fpeare,  determines  his  excellence  to  the  naturall 
Braine'^  only.  Digges,  a  wit  of  the  town  before 
our  Poet  left  the  ftage,  is  very  ftrong  to  the  pur- 
pofe, 

. **  Nature  only  helpt  him,  for  looke  thorow 

This  whole  book,  thou  fhalt  find  he  doth  not  borow 
One  phrafe  from  Greekes,  not  Latines  imitate. 
Nor  once  from  vulgar  Languages  tranflate.''^ 

Suckling  oppofes  his  eafier  Jlrain  to  the  fweat  of 
learned  Jonfon.  Denham  aflures  us,  that  all  he  had 
vvas  from  old  Mother-wit,  His  native  ivood-notes  wildy 
every  one  remembers  to  be  celebrated  by  Alilton. 
Dryden  obferves  prettily  enough,  that  *'  he  wanted 
not  the  fpedacles  of  books  to  read  Nature."  He 
came  out  of  her  hand,  as  fome  one  elfe  exprefles  it, 
like  Pallas  out  of  Jove's  head,  at  full  growth  and 
mature. 

The  ever  memorable  Hale soi Eton.,  (who,  notwith- 
ftanding  his  Epithet,  is,  I  fear,  almoft  forgotten,)  had 
too  great  a  knowledge  both  of  Shakefpeare  and  the 

^  In  his  Elegie  on  Poets  and  Poefie.  p.  206.  Fol. 
1627. 

^  From  his  Poem  "  upon  Mafter  William  Shakefpeare, ^^^ 
intended  to  have  been  prefixed,  with  the  other  of  his 
compofition,  to  the  Folio  of  1623  ;  and  afterward  print- 
ed in  feveral  mifcellaneous  Collections  :  particularly  the 
fpurious  Edition  of  Shakefpeare' s  Poems,  1640.  borne 
jiccount  of  him  may  be  met  with  in  Wood^s  Athene. 

3  Ancients 


6  AnESSAYonthe 

Ancients  to  allow  much  acquaintance  between  them  : 
and  urged  very  juftly  on  the  part  of  Genius  in  oppo- 
fition  to  Pedantry,  That  "  if  he  had  not  read  the 
Claflicks,  he  had  likewife  not  Jlolsn  from  them  ;  and 
if  any  Topick  was  produced  from  a  Poet  of  antiquity 
he  would  undertake  to  (how  fomewhat  on  the  fame 
fubjecl,  at  leaft  as  well  written  by  Sbakejpeare." 

Fuller^  a  diligent  and  equal  fearcher  after  truth  and 
quibbles,  declares  pofitivcly,  that  *'  his  learning  was 
■very  little, —  Nature  was  all  the  Art  ufedupon  him, 
as  he  himfelfy  if  alive,  would  confefs."  And  may 
we  not  fay,  he  did  confefs  it,  when  he  apologized 
for  his  untutored  lines  to  his  noble  patron  the  Earl  of 
Southampton?  —  this  lift  of  witnefTes  might  be  eafily 
enlarged ;  but  I  flatter  myfelf,  I  fliall  rtand  in  no 
need  of  fuch  evidence. 

One  of  the  firft  and  moft  vehement  aflertors  of 
the  learning  of  Shakefpearc,  was  the  Editor  of  his 
Poems,  the  well-known  Mr.  Gildoni^  and  his  fteps 

^  Hence  perhaps  the  ill-flar'd  rage  between  this  Critick 
and  his  elder  Brother,  John  Dennis^  fo  pathetically  la- 
mented in  the  Dunciad.  Whilil  the  former  was  perfuaded, 
that  "  the  man  who  doubts  of  the  Learning  oi  Shahfpeare, 
hath  none  of  his  own:"  the  latter,  above  regarding  the 
attack  in  his  prii'ate  capacity,  declares  with  great  pa- 
triotic vehemence,  that  "  he  who  allows  5/6fl/f^/f/7;r  had 
Learning,  and  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  the  Ancients, 
ought  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  detraftor  from  the  Glory  of 
Gr:at  Britain."  Dennis  was  expelled  his  College  for  at- 
tempting to  ftab  a  man  in  the  dark:  P<?/^  would  have 
been  glad  of  this  anecdote, 

were 


Learning  OF  Shak£spear£.        i 

were  mod  pundually  taken  by  a  fubfequent  labourer 
in  the  fame  department,  Dr.  Sewel. 

Mr.  Pope  fuppofed  "  little  ground  for  the  common 
opinion  of  his  want  of  learning  :"  once  indeed  he 
made  a  proper  diftindion  between  Uarnlng  and  lan- 
guages^ as  I  would  be  underftood  to  do  in  my  Title- 
page  ;  but  unfortunately  he  forgot  it  in  the  courfe  of  his 
difquifition,  and  endeavoured  to  perfuade  himfelfthat 
Shakefpeare' s  acquaintance  with  the  Ancients  might 
be  acflually  proved  by  the  fame  medium  as  Jonfori's, 

Mr.  Theobald  is  "  very  unwilling  to  allow  him  io 
poor  a  fcholar,  as  many  have  laboured  to  reprefent 
him;"  and  yet  is  "  cautious  of  declaring  too  pofi- 
tively  on  the  other  fide  the  queftion." 

Dr.  Warburton  hath  expofed  the  weaknefs  of  fome 
arguments  from  fnfpe^ed  imitations ;  and  yet  offers 
others,  which,  I  doubt  not,  he  could  as  eafily  have 
refuted. 

Mr.  Upton  wonders  "  with  what  kind  of  reafoning 
any  one  could  be  fo  far  impofed  upon,  as  to  imagine 
that  Shakefpeare  had  no  learning  j"  and  lafhes  with 
much  zeal  and  fatisfaclion  "  the  pride  and  pertnefs 
of  dunces,  who  under  fuch  a  name  would  gladly 
(belter  their  own  idlenefs  and  ignorance." 

He,  like  the  learned  Knight,  at  every  anomaly  \a 

grammar  or  metre, 

*'  Hath  hard  words  ready  to  fhew  why. 

And  tell  what  Ruk  he  did  it  by.'* 

How 


8  An  E  SS  AY  on  the 

How  would  the  old  Bard  have  been  afbonlfhed  t6 
have  found,  that  he  had  very  (kilfully  given  the 
trochaic  dimeter  brachycatale^ic^  commonly  called  the 
ithyphalUc  meafure,  to  the  Witches  in  Macbeth  !  and 
that  now  and  then  a  halting  Verfe  afforded  a  mofl 
beautiful  inftance  of  the  Pes  proceleufmaticus ! 

"  But,  continues  Mr.  Upton,  it  was  a  learned  age; 
Roger  AJ'cham  afliires  us,  that  Queen  Elizabeth  read 
more  Greek  every  day,  than  fome  Dignitaries  of  the 
Church  did  Latin  in  a  whole  week."  This  appears 
very  probable  ;  and  a  plcafant  proof  it  is  of  the  gene- 
ral learning  of  the  times,  and  of  Shakefpeare  in  par- 
ticular. I  wonder,  he  did  not  corroborate  it  with 
an  extra<5l  from  her  injuncftions  to  her  Clergy,  that 
*'  fuch  as  were  but  7ncan  Readers  (hould  perufe  over 
before,  once  or  twice,  the  Chapters  and  Homilies, 
to  the  intent  they  might  read  to  the  better  under- 
ftanding  of  the  people." 

Dr.  Grey  declares,  that  Shakefpeare's  knowledge  in 
the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues  cannot  reafonahly  be  call- 
ed in  queftion.  Dr.  Dodd  fuppofes  it  proved,  that  he 
was  not  fuch  a  novice  in  learning  and  antiquity  as 
fome  people  would  pretend.  And  to  clofe  the  whole, 
for  I  fufpe6l  you  to  be  tired  of  quotation.  Mr.  TVhalley, 
the  ingenious  Editor  of  Jonfon,  hath  written  a  piece 
exprefsly  on  this  fide  the  queftion:  perhaps  from 
a  very  excufable  partiality,  he  was  willing  to  draw 

Shake- 


Lear  NiNG  OF  Shake  sPEARE.  9 
Shakefpeare  from  the  field  of  Nature  to  clafTick  ground, 
where  alone,  he  knew,  his  Author  could  poflibly 
cope  with  him. 

Thefe  criticks,  and  many  others  their  coadjutors, 
have  fuppofed  themfelves  able  to  trace  Shake fpeare  in 
the  writings  of  the  Ancients ;  and  have  fometimes 
perfuaded  us  of  their  own  learning,  whatever  became 
of  their  Author's.  Plagiarifms  have  been  difcovered 
in  every  natural  defcription  and  every  moral  fenti- 
ment.  Indeed  by  the  kind  afTiftance.  of  the  various 
Excerpta,  Sententia,  and  FloreSy  this  bufinefs  may  be 
effected  with  very  little  expenfe  of  time  or  fagacity  ^ 
as  Addifon  hath  demonftrated  in  his  Comment  or^ 
Chevy-chace,  and  Wagflaff  on  Tcm  Thumb  :  and  I  my- 
felf  will  engage  to  give  you  quotations  from  the  elder 
Englijh  writers  (for  to  own  the  truth,  I  was  once  idle 
enough  to  colledl  fuch)  which  (hall  carry  with  theni 
at  leaft  an  equal  degree  of  fimilarity.  But  there  car^ 
be  no  occafion  of  wafting  any  future  time  in  this  de- 
partment :  the  world  is  now  in  pofTelTion  of  the 
Marks  of  Imitation. 

"  Shakefpeare  however  hath  frequent  allufions  to 
thefa/ts  ^nd  fables  of  antiquity.*'  Granted: — anc^s 
Mat. Prior  fays,  to  fave  the  effufion  of  moreChriftian 
ink,  I  will  endeavour  to  (hew,  how  they  came  to  his 
acquaintance. 

It  is  notorious,  that  much  of  his  matter  of  fa£l 
B  know- 


10  AnESSAYonthe 

knowledge  is  deduced  from  Plutarch:  but  in  what 
language  he  read  him,  hath  yet  been  the  queftion. 
Mr.  Upton  is  pretty  confident  of  his  fkill  in  the  Ori- 
ginal, and  corre6\s  iiccordingly  the  Errors  of  his 
Copyifls  by  the  Greek  ftandard.  Take  a  few  inftances, 
which  will  elucidate  this  matter  fufficiently. 

In  the  third  a(5t  of  Anthony  and  Cleopatra^  O^avius 
reprefents  to  his  Courtiers  the  imperial  pomp  of 
thofe  illuftrious  lovers,  and  the  arrangement  of  their 
dominion, 

. _—  **  Unto  her 

He  gave  the  'Itablifhment  of  Egypt,  made  her 

Of  lower  Syria,  Cyprus,  Lydiut 

Abfolute  Queen." 

Read  Libyj^  fays  the  critick  authoritatively,  as  is 
plain  from  Plutarch^  ll^u>Tr\y  ^eu  xTripmi  KXcottxt^xv 
(Sao-jAKTirau  AlyC-sTTH  y^  Kvurps  xj  AIBTHE,  j<y  xoiArjf 

This  is  very  true  :  Mr.  Heath  s  accedes  to  the  cor- 
redion,  and  Mr.  Johnjon  admits  it  into  the  Text : 
but  turn  to  the  tranilation,  from  the  French  oi  Jmyoty 

%  It  is  extraordinary,  that  this  Gentleman  fhould  at-* 
tempt  To  voluminous  a  work,  as  \.\\q  Revij'al  of  Shakefpeare^s 
Text,  when,  he  tells  us  in  his  Preface,  "  he  was  not  fo 
fortunate  as  to  be  furniihed  with  either  of  the  Folio  Edi- 
tions, much  lefs  any  of  the  ancient  ^arto^s:"  and  even 
"  Sir  Themes  Hi<f:mc>''s  performance  was  known  to  him 
only  by  Mr.  Warl^Hrtoti's  reprefentation.'* 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.  ir 
hy  Thomas  North,  in  Folio  1579;''  and  you  will  at 
once  fee  the  origin  of  the  miftake. 

"  Firft  of  all  he  did  eftablifh  Cleopatra  Queene  of 
^gypt,  of  Cyprus,  oi  Lydia,  and  the  lower  Syria." 
Again  in  the  Fourth  Adl, 

.^ . "  My  meflenger 

He  hath  whipt  with  rods,  dares  me  to  perfonal  combat, 
Ca;/ar  to  Anthony.       Let  th'  old  Ruffian  know 
I  have  many  other  ways  to  die ;  mean  time 
Laugh  at  his  challenge." — 

"  What  a  reply  is  this,  cries  Mr.  Upton?  'tis  ac- 
knowledging he  (hould  fall  under  the  unequal  com- 
bat. But  if  we  read, 

. "  Let  th'  old  Ruffian  know 

He  hath  many  other  ways  to  die ;  mean  time 

/laugh  at  his  challenge." 

We  have  the  poignancy  and  the  very  repartee  of 
Cafar  in  Plutarch:' 

This  corredion  was  firft  made  by  Sir  Thofnas  Han- 
mer,  and  Mr.  John/on  hath  received  it.  Moft  indif- 
putably  it  is  the  fenfe  oi Plutarch,  and  given  fo  in  the 
modern  tranflations :  but  Shakefpeare  was  milled  by 
the  ambiguity  of  the  old  one,  "  Antonius  fent  again 

^  I  find  the  charafter  of  this  work  pretty  early  deline- 
ated; 

"  'Twas  Greek  at  firft,  that  Greek  -wz^  Latin  made. 
That  Latin  French,  that  French  to  EngUfh  ftraid  : 
Thus  'twixt  one  Plutarch  there's  more  difference. 
Than  i'th'  fame  EngUJhman  return'd  from  France:^ 
B2  to 


12  AnESSAYonthe 

to  challenge  Cafar  to  fight  him  :  Cafar  anfwered. 

That  he  had  many  other  ways  to  die,  than  fo." 
In  the  Third  Adl  of  Julius  Cajar^  Anthony  in  his 

■well-known  harangue  to  the  people,  repeats  a  part 

of  the  Emperor's  will, 

■                 ♦'  To  every  Roman  citizen  he  gives, 
To  every  fev'ral  man,  fevcnty  five  drachma's  ■ 

Moreover  he  hath  left  you  all  his  walks. 
His  private  arbours,  and  new-planted  orchards. 
On  this  fide  Tyber." 

*'  Our  Author  certainly  wrote,  fays  Mr.  Theobald.^ 
On  that  fide  Tyber  — 

Travs  Tiberim — prope  Ca;faris  hortos. 
And  Plutarch^  vi\\ovciShakcfpear€\try  6i]\genilyjludud 
exprefsly  declares,  that  he  left  the  publick  his  gardens 
and  walks,  ni^av  t»  IIoTa^B,  heyond  the  Tyber" 

This  emendation  likewife  hath  been  adopted  by 
the  fubfequent  Editors ;  but  hear  again  the  old 
Tranllation,  where  Shahfptare'sjiudy  lay,  "  He  be- 
queathed unto  every  citizen  of  Rome,  fcventy-five 
drachmas  a  man,  and  he  left  his  gardens  and  arbours 
unto  the  people,  which  he  had  on  this  fide  of  the 
river  of  Tyber."  I  could  furnifli  you  with  many 
more  inftances,  but  thefe  are  as  good  as  a  thoufand. 

Hence  had  our  author  his  characfleriftick  know- 
ledge of  Brutus  and  Anthcny,  upon  which  much  ar- 
gumentation for  his  learning  hath  been  founded  :  and 

hence 


Learning  OF  Shakespeare,  i;* 
hencQ  liter atim  the  Epitaph  on  Timon^  which  it  was 
once  prefumed,  he  had  correded  from  the  blunders 
of  the  Latin  verfion,  by  his  own  fuperior  knowledge 
of  the  Original.! 

I  cannot  however  omit  a  pafTage  of  Mr.  Pope. 
**  Tht fpeeches  copy'd  from  Plutarch  in  Coriolanus  may, 
I  think,  be  as  well  made  an  inftance  of  the  learning 
t){  Shakefpeare,  as  thofe  copy'd  from  C'uero  mCatiliney 
of  Ben.  Jonfoti's.''^  Let  us  inquire  into  this  matter,  and 
tranfcribe  zfpeech  for  a  fpecimen.  Take  the  famous 
one  of  Volumnic 

**  Should  we  be  filent  and  not  fpeak,  our  raiment 
And  ftate  of  bodies  would  bewray  what  life 
We've  led  fince  thy  Exile.    Think  with  thyfelf. 
How  more  unfortunate  than  all  living  women 
Are  we  come  hither ;  fince  thy  fight,  which  fliould 
Make  our  eyes  flow  with  joy,  hearts  dance  with  comforts, 
Conftrains  them  weep,  and  ftiake  with  fear  and  forrow  j 
Making  the  mother,  wife,  and  child  to  fee 
The  fon,  the  hufljand,  and  the  father  tearing 
His  Country's  bowels  out :  and  to  poor  we 
Thy  enmity's  moft  capital ;  thou  barr'ft  us 
Our  prayers  to  the  Gods,  which  is  a  comfort 
That  all  but  we  enjoy.    For  how  can  we, 
Alas !  how  can  we,  for  our  Country  pray. 
Whereto  we're  bound,  together  with  thy  Vidlory, 

*  ^^^  Theobald' f  Preface  to  Yi,Rkbard  z^.  Zvo.  1720. 

Whereto 


J4  AnESSAYonthe 

Whereto  we're  bound  ?  Alack !  or  we  mufl  lofe 
The  Country,  our  dear  nurfe;  or  elfe  thy  Perfon, 
Our  comfort  in  the  Country.    We  muft  find 
An  eminent  calamity,  tho'  we  had 
Our  wifti,  which  fide  fhou'd  win.    For  either  thou 
■   Muft,   as  a  foreign  Recreant,  be  led 
With  manacles  thorough  our  ftreets ;  or  elfe 
Triumphantly  tread  on  thy  Country's  ruin. 
And  bear  the  palm,  for  having  bravely  fhed 
Thy  wife  and  children's  blood.  For  myfelf,  fon, 
I  purpofe  not  to  wait  on  Fortune,   'till 
Thefe  wars  determine  :  if  I  can't  perfuade  thee 
Rather  to  ftiew  a  noble  grace  to  both  parts. 
Than  feek  the  end  of  one  ;  thou  (halt  no  fooner 
March  to  affault  thy  Country,  than  to  tread 
(Truft  to't,  thou  Ihalt  not)  on  thy  mother's  womb. 
That  brought  thee  to  this  world." 

•  I  will  now  give  you  the  old  Tranflation,  which 
Ihall  efFeflually  confute  Mr.  Pope  :  for  our  Author 
hath  done  little  more,  than  thrown  the  very  words 
of  North  into  blank  verfe, 

"  If  we  helde  our  peace  (my  fonne)  and  determin- 
ed not  to  fpeake,  th.e  ftatc  of  our  poore  bodies,  and 
prefent  fight  of  our  rayraent,  would  eafely  bewray  to 
thee  what  life  we  haue  led  at  home,  fince  thy  exile 
and  abode  abroad.  But  thinke  now  with  thy  kMe, 
howe  much  more  unfortunately,  then  all  the  women 
liuinge  we  are  come  hether,  confidering  that  the 

fight 


Learning  OF  Shakespeare.       15 
light  which  fliould  be  moft  pleafaunt  to  all  other  to 
beholde,  fpitefull  fortune  hath  made  moft  fearfull  to 
us :  making  my  felfe  to  fee  my  fonne,  and  my  daugh- 
ter here,   her  hufband,  befieging  the  walles  of  his 
natiue  countrie.    So  as  that  which  is  the  only  com- 
fort to  all  other  in  their  adverfitie  and  miferie,  to 
pray  unto  the  goddes,  and  to  call  to  them  for  aide  ; 
is  the  onely  thinge  which  plongeth  us  into  moft  deepe 
perplexitie.  For  we  cannot  (alas)  together  pray,  both 
for  vi<5lorie,  for  our  countrie,  and  for  fafety  of  thy 
life  alfo  :  but  a  worlde  of  grievous  curfes,  yea  more 
then  any  mortall  enemie  can  heape  uppon  us,   are 
forcibly  wrapt  up  in  our  prayers.  For  the  bitter  foppe 
of  moft  harde  choycc  is  offered  thy  wife  and  children, 
to  forgoe  the  one  of  the  two  :  either  to  lofe  the  per- 
fone  of  thy  felfe,  or  the  nurfe  of  their  natiue  contrie. 
For  my  felfe  (my  fonne)  I  am  determined  not  to  tar- 
rie,  till  fortune  in  my  life  time  doe  make  an  ende  of 
this  warre.    For  if  I  cannot  perfuade  thee,  rather  to 
doe  good  unto  both  parties,  then  to  ouerthrowe  and 
deftroye  the  one,  preferring  loue  and  nature  before 
the  malice  and  calamitie  of  warres :  thou  (halt  fee, 
my  fonne,  and  truft  unto  it,  thou  ftialt  no    foner 
marche  forward  to  aflault  thy  countrie,  but  thy  foote 
(hall  tread  upon  thy  mother's  wombe,  that  brought 
thee  firft  into  this  world." 
The  length  of  this  quotation  will  be  excufed  for 
4  it's 


j6  AnESSAYonthe 

it's  curlofity ;  and  it  happily  wants  not  the  afliftance 
of  a  Comment.  But  matters  may  not  always  be  fo 
cafily  managed: — a  plagiarifm  from  Jnacreon  hath 
been  detected  ! 

"  The  Sun's  a  thief,  and  with  his  great  attraftion 
Robs  the  vafl  Sea.    The  Moon's  an  arrant  thief. 
And  her  pale  fire  fhe  fnatches  from  the  >Sun. 
The  Sea's  a  thief,  vvhofe  liquid  furge  refolves 
The  Moon  into  fait  tears.    The  Earth's  a  thief. 
That  feeds  and  breeds  by  a  composure  ftol'n 
From  gen'ral  excrements :  each  thing's  a  thief." 
*'  This,  fays  Dr.  Dodd,  is  a  good  deal  in  the  man- 
ner of  the  celebrated  drinking  Ode^  too  well  known 
to  be   inferted."     Yet  it  may  be  alleged  by  thofe, 
who  imagine  Shakefpeare  to  have  been  generally  able 
to  think  for  himfelf,  that  the  topicks  are  obvious, 
and  their  application  is  different. — But  for  argument's 
fake,  let  the  Parody  be  granted  ;  and  "  our  Author, 
fays  fome  one,  may  be  puzzled  to  prove,  that  there 
was  a  Latin  tranflation  oi  Jnacreon  at  the  time  Shake- 
fpeare wrote  his  Timon  of  Athens."    This  challenge 
is  peculiarly  unhappy  :  for  I  do  not  at  prefent  recol- 
ledl  any  other  Clajfick,  (if  indeed,  with  great  deference 
to  Mynheer  De  PauWy  Jnacreon  may  be  numbered 
amongft  them)  that  was  originally  publirtied  with  iwit 

Latin  ^  tranflatlons. 

But 

^  By  Huary  Stephens  and  Elias  AnJreas.  Par.  I  5  54.  4to. 
ten  years  before  tlie  birth  of  Shake/pearr.     The  former 

Vcrfioa 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.       17 

But  this  is  not  all.  Puttenham  in  his  Arte  of  Eng- 

lijh  Poefiey  1589,  quotes  feme  one  of  a  "  reafonable 

good  facilitie  in  tranflation,  who  finding  certaine  of 

Anacreotii  Odes  very  well  tranilated  by  Ronfard  the 

French  poet comes  our  Minion,  and  tranflates 

the  fame  out  of  French  into  Englifi  :"  and  his  ftric- 
tures  upon  him  evince  the  publication.  Now  this 
identical  Ode  is  to  be  met  with  in  Ronfard!  and  as 
his  works  are  in  few  hands,  I  will  take  the  liberty 
of  tranfcribing  it. 

**  La  terra  les  eaux  va  boivant, 
L'  arbre  la  boit  par  fa  racine. 
La  mer  falee  boit  le  vent, 
Et  le  Soleil  boit  la  marine. 
Le  Soleil  eft  beu  de  la  Lune, 
Tout  boit  foit  en  haut  ou  en  bas : 
Suivant  cefte  reigle  commune, 
Pourquoy  done  ne  boirons-nous  pas?" 

Edit.  Fol.  p.  507. 

I  know  not,  whether  an  obfervation  or  two  rela- 
tive to  our  Author's  acquaintance  with  Horner^  be 
■worth  our  inveftigation.  The  ingenious  Mrs.  Lenox 
obferves  on  a  pafTage  of  Troilus  and  Creffida^  where 

Verfion  hath  been  afcrlbed  without  reafon  to  John  Doraf. 
Many  other  Tranflators  appeared  before  the  end  of  the 
Century :  and  particularly  the  Ode  in  queftion  was  made 
popular  by  Buchanan,  whofe  pieces  were  foon  to  be  met 
with  in  almoft  every  modern  language. 


i8  AnESSAYonth^ 

Achilles  Is  roufed  to  battle  by  the  death  of  Patrodus, 
that  Shake/pear e  muft  here  have  had  the  Iliad  m  view, 
as  *'  the  old  Story,  i  which  in  many  places  he  hath 
faithfully  copied,  is  abfolutely  filent  with  refpe^t  to 
this  circumftance." 

And  Mr.  Upton  is  pofitivc  that  the  fiveet  oblivious 
Antidote,  inquired  after  by  Macbeth,  could  be  nothing 
but  the  Nepenthe  defcribed  in  the  Odyjfcy, 

I  will  not  infift  upon  the  Tranflations  by  Chapman ; 
as  the  firfl:  Editions  are  without  date,  and  it  may  be 
difficult  to  afcertain  the  exacl  time  of  their  publica- 
tion. But  the  former  clrcumftance  might  have  bticn 
learned  from  Alexander  Barclay ;  "^  and  the  latter 
n:ore  fully  from  Spen/er,^  than  from  Homer  himfeif. 

'  It  was  originally  draivn  into  Englijke  by  Caxton  under 
the  name  of  the  Rccuyel  of  the  Hijioryes  cfTrcy,  from  the 
French  of  the  ryght  'venerallc  Per/on  a7idiverjhipfull man  Raoul 
le  Feure,  ZSi^fynyJhed  in  the  holy  citye  of  Colcu,  the  19  day  of 
SeptembrCy  the yere  of  cur  LcrdGcdy  a  thcufand  f cure  hundred 
Jixty  and  enleiten.  Wynken  de  Worde  printed  an  Edit.  Fol. 
1503.  and  there  have  been  feveral  fubfequent  ones. 

">  *'  Who  lift  thiftory  of  Patrodus  to  reade,  &'C." 

Ship  of  F coles.    1 5  70.  p.  2 1 , 
"  *'  Nepenthe  is  a  drinck  of  fouenignc  grace, 
Deuizcd  by  the  Gods,  for  to  aflwage 

Harts  grief,  and  bitter  g.ill  away  to  chace 

In  ftead  thereof  fweet  peace  and  quietage 
It  doth  eftablifli  in  the  troubled  mynd,  &c." 

Faerie  '^coie,  1596.  B.4.  C.3.  St.  43. 

5  « But 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.       19 

«  But  Shakefpeare,  perfuls  Mr.  Upton,  hath  fome 
Greek  ExpreJJicns"  Indeed! — "  We  have  one  in 
Coriolanus, 

' "  It  Is  held 

That  valour  is  the  chicfefl  Virtue,  and 

Moft  dignifies  the  Haver." 

and  another  in  Macbeth,  where  Banquo  addrefTes  the 
TVeird-Si/lers, 

■  . '<  My  noble  Partner 

You  greet  with  prefent  grace,  and  great  predidllon 

Of  noble  Havhig." 

Gr.  "E;^£ja. — and  -rr^oi;  tov  "E^o-jtx,  to  the  Haver." 

This  was  the  common  language  of  Shakefpeare's 
time.  "  Lye  in  a  water-bearer's  houfe  !  fays  Mafter 
Mathczu  0^  Bobadil,  a  Gentleman  of  his  Havings!'* 

Thus  likevvife  John  Davies  in  his  PJeafcnt  Dcfcant 
upon  EngliJI)  Proverbs,  printed  with  his  Scourge  of 
Folly,  about  1612  ; 

*'  Do  avell  and  have  nvcll ! — neyther  fo  ftill : 

For  fome  are  good  Doers,  whofe  Havings  are  ill." 
and  Daniel  the  Hiftorian  ufes  it  fiequently.    Having 
feems  to  be  fynonymous  with  Behaviour  in  Gawiti 
Douglas  o  and  the  elder  Scotch  writers. 

o  It  is  very  remarkable,  that  the  Bifhop  is  called  by 
his  Countryman,  Sir  David  Lindfey,  in  his  Complaint  of 
cur  Souerane  Lcrdis  Papingo, 

"  In  our  Ingli/chc  Rethorick  the  Rofe." 
And  Dunbar  hath  a  fimilar  expreflion  in  his  beautiful 
Poem  of  The  Goldin  Terge. 

C  2  Haver, 


20  AnESSAYonthe 

Haver^  in  the  fenfe  of  Pofejfor,  is  every  where 
met  with  :  tho'  unfortunately  the  ir^oq  tou^E^^ovt* 
of  Sophocles,  produced  as  an  authority  for  it,  is  fuf- 
pe6led  by  Kujier,  p  as  good  a  critick.  in  thefe  matters, 
to  have  abfolutely  a  different  meaning. 

But  what  (hall  we  fay  to  the  learning  of  the  Chivn 
in  Hamlet,  "  Ay,  tell  me  that,  and  unyoke?"  alluding* 
to  the  BsXuTos  of  the  Greeks :  and  Homer  and  his 
Scholiaft  are  quoted  accordingly  ! 

If  it  be  not  fufficient  to  fay,  with  Dr.  TJ/arburton, 
that  the  phrafe  might  be  taken  from  Hufbandry, 
without  much  depth  of  reading;  we  may  produce  it 
from  a  Dittieoi  the  workmen  of  Dover,  preferved  in 
the  additions  to  Holingjhcd,  p.  1546. 

*'  My  bow  Is  broke,  I  would  unyoke. 
My  foot  is  fore,  I  can  worke  no  more.'* 

An  expreffion  of  my  Dnme.^«/Vif/y  is  next  fattened 
upon,  which  you  may  look  for  in  vain  in  the  modern 
text ;  (he  calls  fome  of  the  pretended  Fairies  in  the 

Merry  Wives  of  Wind/or, 

"  Orphan'^  Heirs  of  fixed  Delliny." 

and 

p  Arifiophams  Comcediae  undecim.  Gx.  &  Lat.  Amji, 
1710.    Fol.  p.  596. 

1  Dr.  Warhurton  corre£ls  Orphan  to  Ouphen ;  and  not 
without  plaufibility,  as  the  word  Ouphes  occurs  both 
before  and  afterward.  But  1  fancy, in  acquiefcence  to  the 
vulgar  dodlrine,  the  addrefs  in  this  line  is  to  a  part  of  the 

Troopi 


Learning  of  Shakespeare,     ai 

and  how  elegant  is  this,  quoth  Mr.  Uptcn,  fuppofing 
the  word  to  be  ufed,  zsz  Grecian  would  haveufedit? 
9^(pocvog  ab  o^(pvog — adlingin  darknefsand  obfcurity.'* 

Mr.  Heath  affures  us,  that  the  bare  mention  of 
fuch  an  interpretation,  is  a  fufficient  refutation  of  it ; 
and  his  critical  word  will  be  rather  taken  in  Greek 
than  in  Efiglijb :  in  the  fame  hands  therefore  I  will 
venture  to  leave  all  our  author's  knowledge  of  the 
Old  Comedy,  and  his  etymological  learning  in  the 
word,  Defdemona.  ^ 

Surely  poor  Mr.  Upton  was  very  little  acquainted 
with  Fairies^  notwithftanding  his  laborious  ftudy  of 
Spenfer.  The  laft  authentick  account  of  them  is  from 
our  countryman  William  Lilly ;  ^  and  it  by  no  means 
agrees  with  the  learned  interpretation  :  for  the  angC" 

Troop,  as  Mortals  by  birth,  but  adopted  by  the  Fairies : 
Orphans,  with  refped  to  their  ?W  Parents,  and  now  only 
dependant  on  Dejliny  herfelf.  A  few  lines  from  Spenfer 
will  fufficiently  illullrate  the  pafTage. 

**  The  man  whom  heauetis  have  ordayndxo  bee 
The  fpoufe  of  Britoinart,  is  Arthegall  .* 
He  wonneth  in  the  land  oi  Fayeree, 

Yet  is  no  Fary  borne,   ne  fib  at  all 
To  Elfes,  but  fprong  of  feed  terreftriall. 

And  whilome  by  falfe  Furies  ftolen  away, 
Whyles  yet  in  infant  cradle  he  did  crall,  &C." 

Edit.  1590.  B. 3.  C.  3.  St. 26. 

'  Re-vifal.    p.  75.  323.  &  561. 

s  Hiftory  of  his  Life  and  Times,  p.  102.  prefervedby 
Jiis  Dupe,  Mr.  JJhmok, 

licai 


22  AnESSAYonthe 

lied  Creatures  appeared  in  his  Hurji  wood  in  a  mo/i 
iUuJirious  Glory.,  —  "  and  indeed,  fays  the  Sage,  it  is 
not  given  to  very  many  perfons  to  endure  their  glo- 
rious afpeSis." 

The  only  i.fe  of  tranfcribhig  thefe  things,  is  to 
fliew  what  abfurdities  men  for  ever  run  into,  when 
they  lay  down  an  Hypothefis,  and  afterward  feek  for 
arguments  in  the  fupport  of  it.  What  elfe  could  in- 
duce this  man,  by  no  means  a  bad  fcholar,  to  doubt 
whether  Truepenny  might  not  be  derived  from  T^u- 
Travou;  and  quote  upon  us  with  much  parade  an  old 
Scholiaft  on  Arijlophanes  ? —  I  will  not  flop  to  confute 
him  :  nor  take  any  notice  of  two  or  three  more  Ex- 
prefllons,  in  which  he  was  pleafed  to  fuppofe  fome 
learned  meaning  or  other ;  all  which  he  might  have 
found  in  every  Writer  of  the  time,  or  ftill  more  eafily 
in  the  vi.lgar  Tranflation  of  the  Bible,  by  confulting 
the  Concordance  of  Alexander  Cruden. 

But  v^hencc  have  we  the  Plot  of  Timcn,  except 
from  the  Greek  of  Lucian  ?  — The  Editors  and  Cri- 
ticks  have  been  never  at  a  greater  lofs  than  in  their 
inquiries  of  this  fort ;  and  the  fource  of  a  Tale  hath 
been  often  in  vain  fought  abroad,  which  might  eafily 
have  been  found  at  home  :  My  good  friend,  the  very 
ingenious  Editor  of  the  Reliques  of  ancient  Englifh 
Poetry,  hath  fhewn  our  Author  to  have  been  fome- 

times  contented  with  a  legendary  Ballad. 

The 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.  23 
The  Story  of  the  Mifanthrope  is  told  in  almoft 
every  Colledtion  of  the  time  ;  and  particulary  in  two 
books,  with  which  Shakefpeare  was  intimately  ac- 
quainted J  the  Palace  of  Pleafure,  and  the  Englijb 
Plutarch.  Indeed  from  a  paflage  in  an  old  Play,  called 
yack  Drums  Entertaimment^  I  conje6ture  that  he  had 
before  made  his  appearance  on  the  Stage. 

Were  this  a  proper  place  for  fuch  a  difquifition,  I 
could  give  you  many  cafes  of  this  kind.  We  arefent 
for  inftance  to  Cinthio  for  the  Plot  of  Meafure  for 
Meafure^  and  Shakefpeare' s  judgement  hath  been  at- 
tacked for  fome  deviations  from  him  in  the  condudl 
of  it :  when  probably  all  he  knew  of  the  matter  was 
from  Madam  Ifabella  in  the  Heptameron  oilVhetflone.  t 
Ariofo  is  continually  quoted  for  the  Fable  of  A'luth 
ado  about  Nothing  ;  but  I  fufpe6t  our  Poet  to  have  been 
fatisfied  with  the  Geneura  of  Turberville.  "  y^s  you  like 
it  was  certainly  borrowed,  if  we  believe  Dr.  Gtey,  and 
Mr.  Upton,  from  the  Coke's  Tale  of  Gamelyn ;  which  by 

*  Lond.  4to.  iq82.  She  reports  in  the  fourth  daye?  ex- 
ercife,  the  rare  Hijlorie  of  Promos  and  Cajfandra.  A  mar- 
ginal note  informs  us,  that  Whetjione  was  the  Author  of 
the  Commedie  on  that  fubjedl ;  which  likewife  had  pro- 
bably fallen  into  the  hands  of  Shakefpeare, 

"  "  The  tale  is  a  pretie  comical!  matter,  and  hath  bin 
written  in  Englf?  verfe  fome  few  years  paft,  learnedly 
and  with  good  grace,  by  M.  George  Turberuil"  Harring- 
ton s  Ariofio.   Fol,  1 59 1,  p.  39« 

the 


ji4  AnESSAYonthe 

the  way  was  not  printed  'till  a  century  afterward  : 
when  in  truth  the  old  Bard,  who  was  no  hunter  of 
MSS.  contented  himfelf  folely  with  Lodge's  Rofalynd 
or  Euphucs'  Golden  Legacye.  410.  1590.  The  Story 
of  AWs  well  that  ends  well,  or,  as  I  fuppofe  it  to  liave 
been  fometimes  called.  Love's  labour  wonne,^  is  ori- 
ginally indeed  the  property  of  Boccacc,  y  but  it  came 
immediately  to  Shakcfpearc  from  Painter's  Giletta  of 
Narbon.  z  Mr.  Langbaine  could  not  conceive,  whence 
the  Story  of  Pericles  could  be  taken,  *'  not  meeting 
in  Hiflory  with  any  fuch  Prince  of  Tyre -y"  yet  his  le^ 

X  See  Meres*s  Wiis  Trcafury.  1 598.  p.  282. 

y  Our  ancient  Poets  are  under  greater  obligations  to 
Boccace,  than  is  generally  imagined.  Who  would  fufpeft, 
that  Chaucer  hath  borrowed  from  an  Italian  the  facetious 
Tale  of  the  Miller  of  Trianpingtoii  ? 

Mr.  DryJcn  obferves  on  the  Epic  performance,  Palamon 
and  Arcltey  a  poem  little  inferior  in  his  opinion  to  the 
Iliad  or  the  JEneid,  that  the  name  of  it's  Author  is  wholly 
loft,  and  Chaucer  is  now  become  the  Original.  But  he 
is  miftaken  :  this  too  was  the  work  of  Boccace,  and 
printed  at  Ferrara  in  Folio,  con  il  commento  di  Andrea 
BaJJi,  1475.  I  have  feen  a  copy  of  it,  and  a  Tranflation 
into  modern  Greek,  in  the  noble  Library  of  the  very- 
learned  and  communicative  Dr.  AJke--vj. 

It  is  likewife  to  be  met  with  in  old  French,  under  the 
Title  of  La  Thefcidc  de  Jean  Boccace,  contenant  les  belles 
&  chaftes  amours  de  deux  jeunes  Chevaliers  Thcbains 
Arcite  l£  Palemon. 

"^  In  the  firft  Vol.  of  the  Palca  of  PUafurt.  4to. 
1566. 

gend 


L E  A~"R  N  I  N  G  OF  Shakespeare.       25. 

gcnd  may  be  found  at  large  in  old  Gower,  under  the 
name  of  Jppolynus.  ^ 

Pericles  is  one  of  the  Plays  omitted  in  the  later 
Editions,  as  well  as  the  early  Folio's,  and  not  im- 
properly J  tho'  it  was  publilhed  many  years  before 
the  death  of  Shakefpeare,  with  his  name  in  the  Title- 
page.  Julus  Gellius  informs  us,  that  fome  Plays  are 
afcribed  abfolutely  to  Plautus,  which  he  only  retouch- 
ed and  poiijhed;  and  this  is  undoubtedly  the  cafe  with 
our  Author  likewife.  The  revival  of  this  perform- 
ance, which  Bcft.  Jonfon  calls  J}ale  and  mouldy^  was 
probably  his  earlieft  attempt  in  the  Drama.  I  know, 
that  another  of  thefe  difcarded  pieces,  the  Yorkjhire 
Tragedy^  hath  been  frequently  called  fo ;  but  moft 
certainly  it  was  not  written  by  our  Pcet  at  all  :  nor 
indeed  was  it  printed  in  his  life-time.  The  FaiSt  on 
which  it  is  built,  was  perpetrated  no  fooner  than 
1604:'='  much  too  late  for  fo  mean  a  performance 
from  the  hand  of  Shake/pear e. 

»  ConfeJJio  Amantis ,  printed  by  T.  Berthekt.  Fol.  1532. 
p.  175,  &c. 

''  '*  William  Caluerley,  o^  Caluerley  inTorkJJjire,  Efquire, 
murdered  two  of  his  owne  children  in  his  owne  houfe, 
then  ftabde  his  wife  into  the  body  with  full  intent  to 
haue  killed  her,  and  then  inftantlie  with  like  fury  went 
from  his  houfe,  to  haue  flaine  his  yongefl  childe  at  nurfe, 
but  was  preuented.  Hee  was  preft  to  death  in  7'orke  the 
5  of  Auguft.  1604."  ^dm.  Ho-wes*  Continuation  of 
y(3i'«5/cive'/ Summarie.  8vo.  1607,  p.  574.  The  Story 
appeared  before  in  a  410.  Pamphlet.  1605.  it  is  omitted 
in  the  Folio  Chronicle.  1631. 

D  Some- 


26  An  ESS  AY  ON  THE 

Sometimes  a  very  little  matter  detects  a  forgery. 
You  may  remember  a  Play  called  the  Double  Faljhood, 
which  Mr.  Theobald  was  defirous  of  palming  upon  the 
world  for  a  pofthumoas  one  of  Sbakcjpeare :  and  I 
fee  it  is  ciafTed  as  fuch  in  the  laft  Edition  of  the 
Bodhian  Catalogue.  Mr.  Pope  himfelf,  after  all  the 
ftridures  of  ScribJefUs,^  in  a  Letter  to  jiaron  Hill^ 
fuppofcs  it  of  that  age;  but  a  miftakcn  accent  de- 
termines it  to  have  been  written  fmce  the  middle  oi 
the  laft  century. 

"  This  late  example 

Of  bafe  Henriquez,  bleeding  in  me  now. 
From  each  good  Jfpeii  takes  away  my  truft.'* 

And  in  another  place, 

*'  You  have  an  y^/^f^.  Sir,  of  wondrous  wifdom." 

The  word  AJpc^.^  you  perceive,  is  here  accented  on 
%\\Qjirft  Syllabic,  which,  I  am  confident,  in  ^wyfenfe 
of  it,  was  never  the  cafe  in  the  time  of  Shjkejpeare  ; 
though  it  may  fometimes  appear  to  be  fo,  when  we 
do  not  obferve  a  preceding  Elifton.  ^ 

Some  of  the  profeffed  Imitators  of  our  old  Poets 
have  not  attended  to  this  and  many  other  Minutia : 

«  Thefe  however,   he  aflures  Mr.  Hill,  were  the  pro- 
perty of  Dr.  Arbvihnot, 

0  Thus  a  line  in  Hamlet^s  dcfcription  of  the  Playefy^ 
ftiould  be  printed  as  in  the  old  Folio's, 

"  Tears  in  his  eyes,  dilh-a£tJon  in's  afpeft.** 
agreeably  to  the  accent  in  a  hundred  other  places- 

6  I 


Learwitcg  of  Shakespeare.      27 

I  could  point  out  to  you  feveral  performances  in  the 
refped^ive  Styles  of  Chaucer^  Spenfer,  and  Shakcfpeare^ 
which  thtimitated^zn]  could  not  pofTrbly  have  either 
read  or  conftrued. 

This  very  accent  hath  troubled  the  Annotators  on 
Milton.  Dr.  Bentley  obferves  it  to  be  "  a  tone  different 
from  the  prefent  ufe."  Mr.  Manwaringy  in  h'lsTreatife 
of  Harmony  and  Numbers,  very  folemnly  informs  us, 
that  "  this  Verfe  is  defedive  both  in  Accent  and 
Quantity,  B.  3.  V.  266. 

^*  His  words  here  ended,  but  his  meek  JifpeR 
.    Silent  yet  fpake."— — 

Here,  fays  he,  a  fyllable  is  emied  and  long,  whereas 
it  fhould  he/hort  and  graved  T^ 

And  a  ftill  more  extraordinary  Gentleman,  one 
Green,  who  publiflied  a  Specimen  of  a  fieiv  Verfton 
of  the  Paradife  Lojl,  into  Blank  verfe,  "  by  which 
that  amazing  Work  is  brought  fomewhat  nearer  the 
Summit  of  Perfe6tion,"  begins  with  corre(5ting  a 
blunder  in  the  fourth  book,  V.  540. 

"  The  fetting  Sun 

-    Slowly  defcended,  and  with  right  J/pe^-^ 

Levell'd  his  evening  rays." 

Notfo  in  the  New  Verfton. 
*'  Meanwhile  the  fetting  Sun  defcending  flow— 
Level'd  with  a/pe^  right  his  ev'ning  rays." 
Enough  of  fuch  Commentators.— -The  celebrated 
D  2  Dr. 


28  AnESSAYonthe 

Dr.  Dee  had  a  Spirit^  who  would  fometimes  conde- 
fcend  to  correcft  him,  when  peccant  in  ^antity  : 
and  it  had  been  kind  of  him  to  have  a  little  aflTifted 

the  IFights  abovementioned. Miltcn  afFecfted  the 

Antique  \  but  it  may  feem  more  extraordinary,  that 
the  old  Accent  fhould  be  adopted  in  Hudibras, 

After  all,  the  Double  Faljhood  is  fuperior  to  Theobald. 
One  pafTage,  and  one  only  in  the  whole  Play,  he 
pretended  to  have  written  : 

* — "  Strike  up,  my  Mafters ; 

"  But  touch  the  Strings  witli  a  religious  foftnefs  : 
•*  Teach  found  to  languilh  thro'  the  Night's  dull  Ear, 
*'  'Till  Melancholy  ftart  from  her  lazy  Couch, 
**  And  Careleflhefs  grow  Convert  to  Attention,'* 

Thefe  lines  were  particularly  admired  ;  and  his 
vanity  could  not  refift  the  opportunity  of  claiming 
them  :  but  his  claim  had  been  more  eafily  allowed  to 
any  other  part  of  the  performance. 

To  whom  then  (hall  we  afcrlbe  it  ?  —  Somebody 
hath  told  us,  who  fliould  feem  to  be  a  Nojirum- 
inonger  by  his  argument,  that,  let  Accents  be  how 
they  will,  it  is  called  an  original  Play  of  William 
Shakefpeare  in  the  King's  Patent^  prefixed  to  Mr. 
Theobald's  Edition,  1728,  and  confequently  there 
eouldbe  no  fraud  in  the  matter.  Whilft,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  Jrijh  Laureat,  Mr.  Fi^or,  remarks,  (and 
were  it  true,  it  would  be  certainly  decifive)  that  the 

Plot 


Learning  of  Shakespeare;  29 
Plot  is  borrowed  from  a  Novel  of  Cervantes,  not 
publifhed  'till  the  year  after  Shakefpeare' s  death.  But 
unluckily  the  fame  Novel  appears  in  a  part  of  Don 
fixate,  which  was  printed  in  SpaniJJ},  1605,  ^"^  ^^ 

Engli/h  by  Sbelto/:,   1612. The  fame  reafoning 

however,  which  exculpated  our  Author  from  the 
YoriJJnre  Tragedy,  may  be  applied  on  the  prefent  oc- 
cafion. 

But  you  want  my  opinion  :  — and  from  every  mark 
of  Style  and  Manner,  I  make  no  doubt  of  afcribing 
it  to  Shirley.  Mr.  Langbairie  informs  us,  that  he  left 
fome  Plays  in  MS.  — Thefe  were  written  about  the 
time  of  the  Rejloration,  when  the  Accent  in  queftion 
was  more  generally  altered. 

Perhaps  the  miftake  arofe  from  an  abbreviation  of 
the  name.  Mr.  Dcdjley  knew  not  that  the  Tragedy  of 
Andromana  was  Shirley's,  from  the  very  fame  caufe. 
Thus  a  whole  ftream  of  Biographers  tell  us,  that 
Marjloris  Plays  were  printed  at  London,  1633,  *'  by 
the  care  of  William  Shakefpeare,  the  famous  Come- 
dian."—  Here  again  I  fuppofe,  in  fome  Tranfcript, 
the  real  Publiftier's  name,  William  Sheares,  was  ab- 
breviated. No  one  Jiath  protraded  the  life  of  Shake- 
fpeare beyond  1616,  except  Mr.  Hume;  who  is 
pleafed  to  add  a  year  to  it,  in  contradidion  to  all 
manner  of  evidence. 
Shirley  is  fpoken  of  with  contempt  In  Mac  Fkcknoe ; 

but 


»o  AnESSAYonthe 

but  his  Imagination  is  fometimes  fine  to  an  extraordi- 
nary degree.  I  recoUcift  a  paflage  in  the  fourth  book  of 
the  ParadifeLoJl,  which  hath  been  fufpeded  of  ImitC' 
tion,  zs  :i pretthiffshdow theGeniusof  Afilton :  I  mean, 
where  Uriel  glides  backward  and  forward  to  Heaven 
on  a  SHTi-beam.  Dr.  Newton  informs  us,  that  this 
might  poflibly  be  hinted  by  a  Picture  of  Jnnibal  Car- 
rruci  in  the  King  of  France's  Cabinet  :  but  I  am  apt 
to  believe  \.\\-x\.  Milton  had  been  ftruck  with  a  Portrait 
in  Shirky.  Fernandoy  in  the  Comedy  of  the  Brother^f 
1652,  defcribes  Jacinta  at  Vefpcn  : 

<*  Her  eye  did  feem  to  labour  wiih  a  tear, 
Which  fuddenly  took  birth,  but  overweigh'd 
With  it's  own  fwelling,  drop'd  upon  her  bofome  ; 
Which  by  reflexion  of  her  light,  appcar'd 
As  nature  meant  her  forrow  for  an  ornament : 
After,  her  looks  grew  chearfull,  and  I  faw 
A  fmile  fhoot  gracefull  upward  from  her  eyes. 
As  if  they  had  gain'd  a  viftory  o'er  grief. 
And  with  it  many  beams  twiftcd  themfelves. 
Upon  whofe  goUen  threads  the  Jtigels  walk 

To  and  again  from  Heirven." « 

You  muft  not  think  me  infe<5ted  with  the  fpirit  of 

e  Mlddleton^   In  an  obfcure  Play,  called,  A  Game  at 
Cheje,  hath  fome  very  pleafing  lines  on  a  fimilar  occafion : 
**  Upon  thofe  lip?,  the  fweete  frclh  buds  of  youth. 
The  holy  dew  of  prayer  lies  like  pearle, 
Dropt  from  the  opening  eye-lids  of  the  mornc 

Upon  the  balhfull  Rofe." 

Lauder, 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.        31 

Lauder,  if  I  give  you  another  of  Milton's  Imitations : 

«■  **  The  Swan  nuith  arched  neck 

*'  Between  her  white  wings  mantling  proudly,  rows  ' 

•*  Her  ftate  with  oary  feet." —  B.  7.  V.  438,  &c. 

**  The  ancient  Poets,  fays  Mr.  Ruhardfon^  have 
not  hit  upon  this  beauty  ;  fo  lavifh  as  they  have 
been  in  their  defcriptions  of  the  S-wan.  Homer  calls 
the  Swan  long-necked,  S^Kiyo^i^ov  •,  but  how  much 
TC\oxtpittorefque,  if  he  had  <2/t^^^  this  length  of  neck  ?" 

For  this  beauty  however,  Milton  was  beholden  to 
Donne  j  whofe  name,  I  believe,  at  prefent  is  better 
known  than  his  writings : 

**  Like  a  Ship  in  her  full  trim. 


A  Sivan,  fo  white  that  you  may  unto  him 

Compare  all  whitenefTe,  but  himfelfe  to  none. 
Glided  along,  and  as  he  glided  watch'd, 
And  with  his  circled  neck  this  poore  fifli  catch'd."— 

Progtrjfe  of  the  Soul.  St.  24, 

Thofe  highly  finifhed  Landfcapes,  the  Seafons,  are 
Indeed  copied  from  Nature  :  but  Thomfon  fometimes 
recollected  the  hand  of  his  Mafler  : 

— — — — "  The  flately  failing  Swan 

Gives  out  his  fnowy  plumage  to  the  gale  ; 
And  arching  proud  his  Neck,  i.'jith  oary  feet. 
Bears  forward  fierce,  and  guards  his  ofier  lile, 
Ptoteftive  of  his  young."  ■ ■  "■■-< 

But 


32  AnESSAYonthe 

But  to  return^  as  we  fay  on  other  occafions.  —  Per-*, 
haps  the  Advocates  for  Shakefpeares  knowledge  of 
the  Latin  language  may  be  more  fuccefsful.  Mr.  Gtl- 
don  takes  the  Van.  "  It  is  plain,  that  He  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  Fables  of  antiquity  very  well :  that 
fome  of  the  Arrows  of  Cupid  arc  pointed  with  Lead, 
and  others  with  Gold,  he  found  in  Ovid  \  and 
what  he  fpeaks  of  Diio,  in  Virgil  :  nor  do  I 
know  any  tranflation  of  thefe  Poets  fo  ancient  as 
Shakefpeare's  time."  The  pafiages  on  which  thefc 
fagacious  remarks  arc  made,  occur  in  the  Midfummir 
Night^s  Dream  ;  and  exhibit,  wc  fee,  a  clear  proof 
of  acquaintance  with  the  Latin  Claflicks.  But  we  are 
not  anfwerable  for  Mr.  Gildons  ignorance  ;  he  might 
have  been  told  of  Caxton  and  Douglas^  of  Surrey  and 
StanyhurJ}^  of  Phacr  and  Tivynt,  of  Flcyniug  and  Geld- 
ings of  Turbevjille  and  Churchyard!  but  thefe  Fablci 
were  eafily  known  without  the  help  of  either  the  ori- 
ginals or  the  tranflations.  The  Fate  of  Dido  had 
been  fung  very  early  by  Gozver^  Chaucer ^  and  Lydgate  ; 
Marloe  had  even  already  introduced  her  to  the  Stage: 
and  Cupid's  arrows  appear  with  their  charadleriftick 
differences  in  Surrey y  in  Sidney ^  in  Spenfer,  and  every 
Sonettccr  of  the  time.  Nay,  their  very  names  were 
exhibited  long  before  in  the  Romaunt  of  the  Rofe :  a 
work,  you  may  venture  to  look  into,  notwithftand- 
ing  Mafter  pry.ine  hath  fo  pofitivcly  aflured  us,  on 

the 


Learning  OF  Shakespeare.  33 
the  word  of  John  Gerforiy  that  the  Author  is  moft 
certainly  damned,  if  he  did  not  care  for  a  ferious  re- 
pentance, f 

Mr.  Whalley  argues  in  the  fame  manner,  and 
with  the  fame  fuccefs.     He  thinks  a  paffage  in  the 


"  High  Queen  of  State, 


Great  *Juno  comes ;  I  know  her  by  her  Gait.''* 
a  remarkable  inftance  of  Shakefpeare^s  knowledge  of 
ancient  Poetick  ftory ;  and  that  the  hint  was  furnifli- 
ed  by  the  Divum  imedo  Regina  of  Virgil,  s 

f  Had  our  zealous  Puritan  been  acquainted  with  the 
real  crime  of  De  Mehun,  he  would  not  have  joined  in  the 
clamour  againft  him.  Poor  Jehan,  it  feems,  had  raifed 
the  expedations  of  a  Monaftery  in  France,  by  the  Legacy 
of  a  great  Cheft,  and  the  weighty  Contents  of  it ;  but 
it  proved  to  be  filled  with  nothing  better  than  Fetches, 
The  Friars,  enraged  at  the  ridicule  and  difappointment, 
would  not  fufFer  him  to  have  Chriftian  burial.  See  the 
Hon.  Mr.  Barrington's  very  learned  and  curious  Obfernja- 
tions  on  the  Statutes.  4to.  1 766.  p.  24.  From  the  ^;/»«/fj  </* 
Acqi^tayne.,  Par.  I  5  37. 

Our  Author  had  his  full  fliare  in  diftrefling  the  Spirit 
of  this  reftlefs  man.  "  Some  Play-books  are  grown  from 
^arto  into  Folio ;  which  yet  bear  fo  good  a  price  and 

fale,   that  I  cannot  but  with  griefe  relate  it. Sha.ck- 

Jpeers  Plates  are  printed  in  the   bell  Crowne-paper,  far 
better  than  moft  Bibles  T^ 

s  Others  would  give  up  this  paflage  for  the  Fera  incejit 

patuit  Dea-j  but  I  am  not  able  to  fee  any  improvement 

in  the  matter  :  even  fuppofing  the  Poet  had  been  fpeak- 

ing  of  June,  and  no  previous  Tranflation  were  extant. 

E  You 


34  AnESSAYonthe 

You  know,  honeft  John  Taylor^  the  IFater-poef'^ 
declares  that  he  never  learned  his  Accidence^  and  that 
Latin  and  French  were  to  him  Heathen-Greek  j  yet  by 
the  help  of  Mr.  TVhalhy's  argument,  I  will  prove  him 
a  learned  Man,  in  fpite  of  every  thing,  he  may  fay 
to  the  contrary:  for  thus  he  makes  a  Gallant  addrefs 
his  Lady, 

**  Moft  ineftimable  Magazine  of  Beauty in 

■whom  the  Port  and  Majcjly  of  Juno,  the  Wifdom  of 
^(jz^Abraine-bred  Girle,and  the  Feature  of  Cy/^^^^j,'* 
have  their  domeftical  habitation." 

In  the  Merchant  of  Venice,  we  have  an  oath  "  By 
iwo-headed  Janus -y^  and  here,  fays  Dr.  Warhurton^ 
Shakefpeare  fhews  his  knowledge  in  the  Antique  :  and 

h  This  pafTage  recalls  to  my  memory  a  very  extraordi- 
nary faft.  A  few  years  ago,  at  a  great  Court  on  the  Con- 
tinent, a  Countryman  of  our's  of  high  rank  and  character, 
[Sir  C.  H.  //'.]  exhibited  with  many  other  Candidates 
his  compHmental  Epigram  on  the  Birth-day,  and  carried 
the  prize  in  triumph, 

"  O  Regina  orbis  prima  Sc  pulchcrrima  :  ridens 
Es  Venus,  incedens  Juno,  Minerva  loquens." 
loiter  ally  llolen  from  Aiigerianus, 

"  Tres  quondam  nudas  vidit  Priamcius  heros 
Luce  deas  ;  video  tres  quoquc  luce  deas. 

Hoc  majus  ;  tres  uno  in  corporc  :   Calia  ridens 
EJl  Venus,  incedens  Juno,  Mincrnja  loqu£ns" 

DeliticT  Ital.  Poet,  by  Gruter,  under  the  anagrammatif 
'^:imt  o(  Ranutius  G herns.    1608.  V.  I.  p.  189. 

Perhaps  the  latter  part  of  the  Epigram  was  met  with 
in  a  whimfical  book,  which  had  it's  day  of  Fame,  Robert 
burton's  Anatomy  of  Milamholy ,  Fol.  1 65  2. 6th  Edit,  p.5  20. 


Learning  OF  Shakespeare.     35 

jfo  again  does  the  Water-poet^  who  defcribes  Fortune^ 

*'  Like  a  Janus  with  a  double-face.^* 

But  Shakefpeare  hath  fomewhere  at  Z^//«  Motto, 
quoth  Dr.  Sezvel;  and  fo  hath  y^j^w  Taylor,  and  a 
whole  Poem  upon  it  into  the  bargain. 

You  perceive,  my  dear  Sir,  how  vague  and  inde- 
terminate fuch  arguments  mufl:  be :  for  in  fa<fl  this 
fiueei  Swan  of  Thames,  as  Mr.  Pope  calls  him,  hath 
more  fcraps  of  Latin,  and  allufions  to  antiquity  than 
are  any  where  to  be  met  with  in  the  writings  of 
Shakefpeare.  I  am  forry  to  trouble  you  with  trifles, 
yet  what  muft  be  done,  when  grave  men  infift  upon 
them  ? 

It  (hould  feem  to  be  the  opinion  of  fome  modern 
criticks,  that  the  perfonages  of  claflick  land  began  only 
to  be  known  in  England  in  the  time  of  Shakefpeare ; 
or  rather,  that  he  particularly  had  the  honour  of  in- 
troducing them  to  the  notice  of  his  countrymen. 

For  inftance,  —  Rumour  painted  full  of  tongues,  gives 
us  a  Prologue  to  one  of  the  parts  of  Henry  the  Fourth ; 
and,  fays  Dr.  Dodd,  Shakefpeare  had  doubtlefs  a  view 
to  either  Virgil  or  Ovid  in  their  defcription  of  Fame. 

But  why  fo  ?  Stephen  Hawes  in  his  Pajlime  of  Plea- 
fure  had  long  before  exhibited  her  in  the  fame  manner, 

**  A  goodly  Lady  envyroned  about 
With  tongues  of  fyre."'— — 

»  Cap.  I.  /j.to.  1555. 

E  a  and 


36  AnESSAYonthe 

and  fo  had  Sir  Thomas  More  in  one  of  his  Pageaniiy^ 
**  Fame  I  am  called,  mervayle  you  nothing 
Though  with  tonges  I  am  compafled  all  rounde." 
not  to  mention  her  ehborate  Portrait  by  Chaucer j  in 
the  Boke  of  Fame  ^  and  by  John  Higgins,  one  of  the 
Afllftants  in  the  Mirourfor  Magijlrates,  in  his  Legend 
eiK\ngAlbana^e. 

A  very  liberal  Writer  on  the  Beauties  of  Poetry, 
who  hath  been  more  converfant  in  the  ancient  Lite- 
rature of  other  Countries,  than  his  own,  "  cannot 
but  wonder,  that  a  Poet,  whofe  claflical  Images 
are  compofed  of  the  fineft  parts,  and  breath  the  very 
fpirit  of  ancient  Mythology,  (hould  pafs  for  being 
illiterate :" 

*'  See  what  a  grace  was  feated  on  his  brow! 

Hyperion's  curls  :  the  front  of  Jo've  himfelf : 

An  eye  like  Mars  to  threaten  and  command  : 

A  ftation  like  the  herald  Mercury, 

New  lighted  on  a  heaven-kiffing  hill."         Hamlet, 

Illiterate  is  an  ambiguous  term :  the  queftion  is, 
"whether  Poetick  Hiftory  could  be  only  known  by  an 
Adept  in  Languages.  It  is  no  reflection  on  this  inge- 
nious Gentleman,  when  I  fay,  that  I  ufe  on  this  oc- 
cafion  the  words  of  a  better  Critick,  who  yet  was  not 
willing  to  carry  the  illiteracy  of  our  Poet  too  far :  — 

k  Amongft  **  the  things,  which  MayfterAfor^  wrote  in  his 
yputh  for  his  paltime,"  prefixed  to  his  ^er^w.  1557.  Fol. 

♦'  They 


Learning  OF  Shakespeare.  37 
**  They  who  are  in  fuch  aftonifhment  at  the  learning 
of  Shakefpeare,  forget  that  the  Pagan  Imagery  was 
famihar  to  all  the  Poets  of  his  time  ;  and  that  abun- 
dance of  this  fort  of  learning  was  to  be  picked  up 
from  almoft  every  Englijh  book,  that  he  could  take 
into  his  hands."  For  not  to  infifl:  upon  Stephen  Bate- 
man^s  Golden  booke  of  the  leaden  Goddes,  1577, 
and  feveral  other  laborious  compilations  on  the  fub- 
jedl,  all  this  and  much  more  Mythology  might  as 
perfedly  have  been  learned  from  the  Tejiament  of 
Crefeide,  •  and  the  Fairy  ^een,  ^  as  from  a  regular 
Pantheon  or  Polymetis  himfelf. 

Mr.  Upton,  not  contented  with  Heathen  learning, 
when  he  finds  it  in  the  text,  muft  neceflarily  fuper- 
add  it,  when  it  appears  to  be  wanting  j  becaufe  Sbake- 
fpeare  moft  certainly  hath  loft  it  by  accident ! 

In  Much  ado  about  Nothing,  Don  Pedro  fays  of  the 
jnfenfible  Benedi^,  "  He  hath  twice  or  thrice  cut 
Cupid's  bow-ftring,  and  the  little  Hangman  dare  not 
Ihoot  at  him." 

This  mythology  is  not  recollecfled  in  the  Ancients, 
and  therefore  the  critick  hath  no  doubt  but  his  Au- 
thor wrote  ^^  Henchman, — a  Page,Pufio :  and  this  word 
feeming  too  hard  for  the  Printer,  he  tranflated  the 

'  Printed  amongft  the  Works  of  Chaucer,  but  really 
written  by  Robert  Hender/on. 

">  It  is  obfervable,  that  Hyperion  is  ufed  by  Spetifev 
with  the  fame  error  in  quantity. 

little 


3$  AnESSAYonthe 

little  Urchin  into  a  Hangman,,  a  chara^er  no  way 

belonging  to  him." 

But  this  charadler  was  not  borrowed  from  the 
Ancients  j  —  it  came  from  the  Arcadia  of  Sir  Philip 
Sidney : 

**  Millions  of  yeares  this  old  drlvell  C»/;^ lives; 
While  ftill  more  wretch,  more  wicked  he  doth  prove  :^ 
Till  now  at  length  that  Jove  him  office  gives, 
(At  Juno's  fiiite  who  much  did  Argus  love) 
In  this  our  world  a  Hangman  for  to  be 
Of  all  thofe  fooles  that  will  have  all  they  fee." 

B.  2.  Ch.  14. 

I  know  it  may  be  obje£ted  on  the  authority  of 
fuch  Biographers,  as  Tbeophilus  Cibbery  and  the  Writer 
of  the  Life  of  Sir  Philips  prefixed  to  the  modern 
Editions ;  that  the  Arcadia  was  not  publiflied  before 
1613,  and  confequently  too  late  for  this  imitation  : 
but  I  have  a  Copy  in  my  own  poflefTion,  printed  for 
IV.  Ponjonhie^  15905  4^0'  which  hath  efcaped  the 
notice  of  the  induftrious  Amcs^  and  the  reft  of  our 
typographical  Antiquaries. 

Thus  likewife  every  word  of  antiquity  is  to  be  cut 
down  to  the  clafllcal  fiandard. 

In  a  Note  on  the  Prologue  to  Troilus  and  CreJJida, 
(which,  by  the  way,  is  not  met  wiih  in  the  ^arto) 
Mr.  Theobald  informs  us,  that  the  very  nafties  of  the 
gates  of  Troy^  have  been  barbaroufly  demoliflied  by 
the  Editors  :  and  a  deal  of  learned  duft  he  makes  in 

fetting 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.       39 

fetting  them  right  again  ;  much  however  to  Mr, 
Hiath's  fatisfadion.  Indeed  the  learning  is  modeftly 
withdrawn  from  the  later  Editions,  and  we  are  quiet- 
ly in{lru(5led  to  read, 

*'  Dardany  and  Thyjnbria,  Ilia,  Scaa,  Troian, 

And  Anienorides." 
But  had  he  looked  into  the  Troye  bole  of  Lydgate^ 
inftead  of  puzzling  himfelf  with  Dare^  Pbrygius^  he 
would  have  found  the  horrid  demolition  to  have 
been  neitiier  the  work  of  Shakefpeare  nor  his  Editors. 

**  Therto  his  cyte  \  compafTed  enuyrowne 

Hadde  gates  VI  to  entre  into  the  towne  : 

The  firfte  of  all '  and  ftrengeft  eke  with  all, 

Largcll  alfo  '  and  mofte  pryncypall, 

Of  myghty  byldyng'  alone  perelefs. 

Was  by  the  kynge  called  I  Dardanydes  ; 

And  in  ftorye  '  lyke  as  it  is  founde, 

Tymbria  '  was  named  the  feconde  ; 

And  the  thyrde  '  called  Helyas, 

The  fourthe  gate'  hyghte  alfo  Cetheas'y 

The  fyfthe  Trojancy  '  the  fyxth  Ar.thonydes, 

Stronge  and  myghty  I  both  in  werre  and  pes."  " 
Lond.  empr.  by /?.  i^-^a«.  15 13.  Fol.  B.  2.  Ch.  ii. 

Our 

1  The  Troye  Boke  was  fomewhat  modernized,  and 
reduced  into  regular  Stanza's,  about  the  beginning 
of  the  laft  century,  under  the  name  of  the  "  Life  and 
Death  of  Hector  —  who  fought  a  hundred  mayne  Battailes 
in  open  field  againll  the  Grecians ;  wherein  there  were 
flaine  on  both  fides  Fourtcsrie  Hundred  and  Sixe  Thoufaud, 

Fiur/cote 


4©  AnESSAYonthe 

Our  excellent  friend  Mr.  Hurd  hath  born  a  noble 
teftimony  on  our  fide  of  the  queftion.  "  Shakefpearet 

Four/core  and  Sixe  men.''*  Fol.  no  date.  This  work,  Dr. 
Fuller  and  feveral  other  criticks  have  erroneoufly  qooted 
as  the  Original;  and  obferve  in  confequence,  that  "  if 
Chaucer'' s  Coin  were  oi  greater  iveight  for  deeper  learnings 
Lydgate's  were  of  a  more  refined  Jlandard  for  purer  language  : 
{o  that  one  might  miftake  him  for  a  modern  Writer  !" 

Let  me  here  make  an  obfervation  for  the  benefit  of  the 
next  Editor  of  C^^jwr^T.  Mr.  f//r)',  probably  mifled  by 
his  predeceflbr,  Speghty  was  determined,  Procrujies-liket 
to  force  every  line  in  the  Canterbury  Tales  to  the  fame 
Standard  :  but  a  precife  number  of  Syllables  was  not  the 
Objeft  of  our  old  Poets.  Lydgate,  after  the  example  of 
his  Mailer,  very  fairly  acknowledges, 

*'  Well  wot  I '  moche  thing  is  wronge, 
Falfely  metryd  I  both  of  (hort  and  longe." 
and  Chaucer  himfelf  was  perfuaded,  that  the  Rime  might 
poffibly  be 

"  Somewhat  agreable. 

Though  fome  Verfe  faile  in  a  Syllable," 

In  fhort,  the  attention  was  directed  to  the  C^faral paufey 
as  the  Grammarians  call  it  ;  which  is  carefully  marked  in 
every  line  oi  Lydgate :  and  Ga/coigne  in  his  Certayne  notes 
of  lnjlru^lion  cojiccrning  the  making  of  Verfe.,  obferves  very 
truly  of  Chaucer y  "  Whofoeucr  do  pcrufe  and  well  con- 
lider  his  workes,  he  Ihall  find,  that  although  his  lines 
aie  not  alwayes  of  one  fclfe  fame  number  of  Syllables, 
yet  bcyng  redde  by  one  that  hath  underftanding,  the 
longert  vcrfe  and  that  which  hath  moft  fyllables  in  it, 
will  fall  to  the  Eare  correfpondent  unto  that  which  hath 
feweft  fyllables  in  it:  and  likewife  that  whiche  hath  in 
it  feweft  fyllables  fliall  be  founde  yet  to  confift  of  wordcs 
that  have  fuchc  naturall  founde,  as  may  feeme  equall  in 
length  to  a  verfe  which  hath  many  moe  fyllables  of 
lighter  accents."  4to.  1575. 

fays 


LEAftNING    OF    SHAKES^EAftE.        ^t 

Tays  this  true  Crltick,  owed  the  felicity  of  freedom 
from  the  bondage  of  claffical  fuperftition,  to  the  luant 
of  what  is  called  the  advantage  of  a  learned  Educa- 
tion.—  This,  as  well  as  a  vaft  fuperiority  of  Genius 
hath  contributed  to  lift  this  aftonifhing  man  to  the 
glory  of  being  efteemed  the  moft  original  thinker  and 
fpeaJter,  fince  the  times  of  Homer."  And  hence  in- 
difputably  the  amazing  Variety  of  Style  and  Manner, 
unknown  to  all  other  Writers  :  an  argument  of  it/elf 
fufficient  to  emancipate  Shakefpeare  from  the  fuppo- 
fition  of  a  Clajfual  training.  Yet,  to  be  honell:,  one 
Imitation  is  fajiened  on  our  Poet :  which  hath  been 
infifted  upon  likewlfe  by  Mr.  Upton  and  Mr.  IVhalley. 
You  remember  it  in  the  famous  Speech  of  Claudia 
ill  Meafure  for  Meafure : 

**  Ay,  but  to  die  and  go  we  know  not  where !  &c.'* 

Moft  certainly  the  Ideas  of  a  *'  Spirit  bathing  in 
fiery  floods,"  of  refiding  *'  in  thrilling  regions  of 
thick-ribbed  ice,"  or  of  being  "  imprifoned  in  the 
viewlefs  winds,"  are  not  original  in  our  Author ;  but 
I  am  not  fure,  that  they  came  from  the  Platofiick  Hell 
of  Virgil,  o  The  Monks  alfo  had  their  hot  and  their 
cold  Hell,  "  the  fyrfte  is  fyre  that  ever  brenneth, 

«  «, .,,..  .,    "  Allx  panduntur  inanes 

Sufpenfiae  ad  ventos  :  aliis  fub  gurgite  vafto 
I^eftum  eluitwr  fcelus,  aut  exurilur  igni.'* 

F  and 


42  AnESSAYonthe 

and  never  gyveth  lighte,  fays  an  old  Homily :  P  — * 
The  feconde  is  pafTyng  colde,  that  yf  a  grete  hylle  of 
fyre  were  caften  therin,  it  fliolde  torne  to  yce."  One 
of  their  Legends,  well  remembered  in  the  time  of 
Shakefpcare^  gives  us  a  Dialogue  between  a  Bilhop 
and  a  Soul  tormented  in  a  piece  of  ice,  which  was 
brought  to  cure  a  grete  brentiing  heate  in  his  foot :  q 
take  care  you  do  not  interpret  this  the  Gout,  for  I 
remember  M.  Alenage  quotes  a  Canon  upon  us, 

*'  Si  quis  dixerit  Epifcopum  podagra  laborare,  Ana- 
thema fit." 

Another  tells  us  of  the  Soul  of  a  Monk  faftencd 
to  a  Rock,  which  the  winds  were  to  blow  about  for 
a  twelvemonth,  and  purge  of  it's  Enormities.  In- 
deed this  do6trine  was  before  now  introduced  into 
poetick  fi<5lion,  as  you  may  fee  in  a  Poem  *'  where 
the  Lover  declareth  his  pains  to  exceed  far  the  pains 
of  Hell,"  among  the  many  mifcellaneous  ones  fub- 
joined  to  the  Works  of  Surrey.  Nay,  a  very  learned 
and  inquifitive  Brother-Antiquary,  our  Greek  Pro- 
feflbr,  hath  obferved  to  me  on  the  authority  of  Blef^ 
ienius,  that  this  was  the  ancient  opinion  of  the  inha- 

p  At  the  ende  of  the  Tejlyuall,  drawen  cute  of  Legenda 
aurea.  4to.  1508.  it  was  firft  printed  by  Caxton,  1483. 
"in  helpe  of  fuch  Clerkes  who  excufetheym  fordefaute of 
bokes,  and  alfo  by  fymplenesof  connynge." 

*5  On  all/ouks  daye,  p.  152. 

bitants 


Leartjing  of  Shakespeare.  43 
bitants  of  Iceland;^  who  were  certainly  very  little 
read  either  in  the  Poet  or  the  Philofopher, 

After  all,  Shakefpeare's  curiofity  might  lead  him  to 
Tranjlations .  Gawin  Douglas  really  changes  the  Pla- 
tonick  Hell  into  the  "  punytion  of  Saulis  in  Purgatory  :** 
and  it  is  obfervable,  that  when  the  Ghoji  informs 
Hamlet  of  his  Doom  there, 

'    **  Till  the  foul  crimes  done  in  his  days  of  nature 
Are  burnt  and  purged  aivay,"  ■ 

the  Exprelllon  is  very  fimilar  to  the  Bifhop's  :  I  will 
give  you  his  Verfion  as  concifely  as  I  can ;  "  It  is  a 
nedeful  thyng  to  fufFer  panis  and  torment — Sum  in 
the  wyndis,  Sum  under  the  watter,  and  in  the  fire 
uthir  Sum :  —  thus  the  mony  Vices 

"  Contrakkit  In  the  corpis  be  done  aivay 

And  purgit" 

SixteBookeofEneados.  Fol.  p.  igr. 

It  feems  however,  that  "  Shakefpeare  himfelf  in  the 
Tempefl  hath  tranflated  fome  expreflions  of  Virgil: 
•witnefs  the  O  Dea  certe"  I  prefume,  we  are  here 
directed  to  the  pafTage,  where  Ferdinand  fays  oi  Mi^ 
randa,  after  hearing  the  Songs  of  Jriel, 

■  *'  Moft  fure,  the  Goddefs 

On  whom  thefe  airs  attend." 
and  fo  very/mall  Latin  is  fufficient  for  this  formidable 
tranflation,  that  if  it  be  thought  any  honour  to  our 

^  IJlandic^  Defcript.  Lvgd.  Bat.   1607.  p.  46. 

f  2  Poet, 


44  AnESSAYonthe 

Poet,  I  am  loth  to  deprive  him  of  it ;  but  his  honour 
is  not  built  on  fuch  a  fandy  foundation.  Let  us  turn 
to  a  real  Tranjlatory  and  examine  whether  the  Idea 
might  not  be  fully  comprehended  by  an  £«;^///2;  reader; 
fuppofing  it  neceflarily  borrowed  from  Virgil.  Hex^ 
ameters  in  our  own  language  are  almoft  forgotten; 
we  will  quote  therefore  this  time  from  Stanyhurji : 

*'  O  to  thee,  fayre  Virgin,  what  terme  may  rightly  be 

fitted? 
Thy  tongue,  thy  vifage  no  mortal  frayltie  refembleth, 
No  doubt,  a  Godejfe  /"  Edit.  1583. 

Gabriel  Harvey  defired  only  to  be  "  Epitaph' d,  the 
Inventor  of  the  Englijh  Hexameter  "  and  for  a  while 
every  one  would  be  halting  on  Roman  feet  -,  but  the 
ridicule  of  our  Fellow- Collegian  Hall^  in  one  of  his 
Satires,  and  the  reafoning  of  Daniel,  in  his  Defence 
of  Rhyme  againft  Campion,  prefently  reduced  us  to 
our  original  Gothic. 

But  to  come  nearer  the  purpofe,  what  will  you 
fay,  if  I  can  fliew  you,  that  Shakefpeare,  when,  in 
the  favourite  phrafe,  he  had  a  Latin  Poet  in  his 
Bye,  mod  afTuredly  made  ufe  of  a  Tranflation. 

Profpero  in  the  Tempejl  begins  the  Addrefs  to  iiis 
attendant  Spirits, 

"  Ye  Elves  of  Hills,  of  Handing  Lakes,  and  Groves." 
This  fpeech,  Dr.  Warburton  rightly  obferves  to  be 
borrowed  from  Medea  in  Ovid:  and  *'  it  proves,  fays 

Mr, 


Learning  OF  Shakespeare.       45 

Mr.  Holty  s  beyond  contradii5tion,  that  Shahfpiare 
was  perfecftly  acquainted  with  the  Sentiments  of  the 
Ancients  on  the  Subjei5t  of  Inchantments."  The 
original  lines  are  thefe. 

"  Auraeque,  &  vend,  montefque,  amnefque,  lacufque, 

Diique  omnes  neraorum,  diique  omnes  noftis  adefte." 
It  happens  however,  that  the  tranflation  by  Arthur 
Golding^  is  by  no  means  literal,  and  Shakefpcare  hath 
clofely  followed  it ; 

*'  Ye  Ayres  and  Winds ;  Te  Ehes  of  Hills,  of  Brookes, 
of  Woods  alone, 

Ofjlanding  Lakes,  and  of  the  Night  approche  ye  everych 
one." 

I  think  it  is  unneceflary  to  purfue  this  any  fur- 
ther ;  efpecially  as  more  powerful  arguments  await  us. 

In  the  Merchant  of  Venice,  the  JeiVy  as  an  apology 
for  his  cruelty  to  Anthon'io,  rehearfes  many  Sy?npa-^ 
thies  and  Antipathies  for  which  no  reafon  can  be  ren^ 
dered, 

"  Some  love  not  a  gaping  Pig— — 

And  others  when  a  Bagpipe  fings  i'th'  nofe 
Cannot  contain  their  urine  for  affe£lion.^'' 

*  In  fome  Remarks  on  the  Tejnpefi,  publiflied  under 
the  quaint  Title  of  "  An  attempte  to  refcue  that  aun- 
ciente  Englifh  Poet  and  Play-wrighte,  Maifter  Williaume 
Shake/peare,  from  the  many  Errours,  faulfely  charged 
upon  him  by  certaine  new-fangled  Wittes."  Loncl.  8vo. 
1749.  p.  81. 

'  His  work  is  dedicated  to  the  Earl  of  Leicejler  in  a 
Jon^  Epiftle  in  verfe,  from  £erivicie,  Apr.  20.  1567. 

This 


-46  AnESSAYonthe 

This  incident.  Dr.  JVarhurton  fuppofes  to  be  taken 
from  a  pafTage  in  Scaliger's  Exercitat'iom  againft  Car- 
dan^ "  Narrabo  tibi  jocofam  Sympathiam  Reguli, 
f'cifccjiis  Equitis :  Is  Hum  viveret  audito  Phcrmingis 
fono,  urlnam  illico  facere  cogebatur."  And,  proceeds 
the  Dodoi\  to  make  this  jocular  ftory  ftill  more  ridi- 
culous, Shahfpeare^  I  fuppofe,  tranflatcd  Phorminx 
•by  Bagpipes. 

Here  we  feem  fairly  caught ;  —  for  ScaUgers  work 
v.'as  never,  as  the  ic-m  goes,  done  into  Englijh.  But 
luckily  in  an  old  tranflation  from  the  French  of  P^ler 
Le  Lciir,  entitled,  J  treatife  of  Spe^ers,  or  Jiraunge 
Sig/jls,  Viftons  and  Jpparitions  appearing  fenftbly  unto 
men,  we  have  this  identical  Story  from  Scaliger :  an<J 
what  is  ftill  more,  a  marginal  Note  gives  us  in  all 
probability  the  very  fact  alluded  to,  as  well  as  the 
word  of  Shakefpecrc,  *'  Another  Gentleman  of  this 
"quality  liued  of  late  in  Deuon  neere  Excefter,  who 
could  not  endure  the  playing  on  a  Bagpipe-^'  " 

We  may  juft  add,  as  fome  obfervation  hath  been 
n":ade  upon  it,  ihztjffedlion  in  the  fenfe  oiSympathy  was 

"  M.  ^<7>'/,?  hath  delineated  the  fingular  charafterof  our 
fantajlical  a\u\.\\ot.  His  work  was  originally  tranflatedby 
one  Zachuriefofies.  My  Edit,  is  in  410.  1605.  with  aa 
anonymous  Dedication  to  the  King  :  ihtDe-vor?Jhire  Story 
was  tlierefore  well  known  in  the  time  of  ShakeJ'peare. — r 
The  pafllige  from  Scaliger  is  likewife  to  be  met  with  i^ 
The  Optick  Glajjc  of  Humors,  written,  I  believe,  by  7'.  Womb^ 
nucll ',  and  in  feveral  other  places, 

formerly 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.        47. 

formerly  technical ;  and  fo  ufed  by  Lord  Bacon,  Sir 
Kenelm  D'lghy^  and  many  other  Writers. 

A  fmgle  word  in  Queen  Catherine's  Character  of 
Wolfey,  in  Henry  the  8th,  is  brought  by  the  Doctor 
as  another  argument  for  the  learning  of  ShakeJ'peare, 


"  He  was  a  man 


Of  an  unbounded  Stomach,  ever  ranking 
Himfelf  with  Princes  ;  one  that  by  Suggefikn 
Ty'd  all  the  kingdom.    Simony  was  fair  play. 
His  own  opinion  was  his  law,  i'th'  prcfence 
He  would  fay  untruths,  and  be  ever  double 
Both  in  his  words  and  meaning.    He  was  never 
But  where  he  meant  to  ruin,  pitiful. 
His  promifes  were,  as  he  then  was,  mighty  ; 
But  his  performance,  as  he  now  is,  nothing. 
Of  his  own  body  he  was  ill,  and  gave 
The  Clergy  ill  example." 

The  word  Suggejlion^  fays  the  Critick,  is  here  ufed, 
with  great  propriety,  and  feemitig  knowledge  of  the 
Latin  tongue :  and  he  proceeds  to  fettle  the  fenfe  of 
it  from  the  late  Roman  writers  and  their  gloffers.  But 
Shakefpeare' s  knowledge  was  from  HoUng/bedy  whom 
he  follows  verbatim : 

**  This  Cardinal  was  of  a  great  ftomach,  for  he 
compted  himfelf  equal  with  princes,  and  by  craftie 
Suggejlicn  got  into  his  hands  innumerable  treafure : 
lie  forced  little  on  fimonie,  and  was  not  pitifull,  and 

ftood 


48  AnESSAYontMe 

flood  affei5tionate  in  his  own  opinion  :  in  open  pre-* 
fence  he  would  lie  and  feie  untruth,  and  was  double 
both  in  fpeech  and  meaning  :  he  would  promife 
much  and  performe  little:  he  was  vicious  of  his 
bodie,  and  gaue  the  clergie  euil  example."  Edit. 
1587.   p.  922. 

Perhaps  after  this  quotation,  you  may  not  think, 
that  Sir  Thomas  Hanmcr^  who  reads  Tyth'd — in- 
ftead    of  Tyd  all    the  kiugdoniy    deferves   quite   fo 

much    of  Dr.  Jf^arburtoti" s  feverity. Indifput- 

ably  the  paflage,  like  every  other  in  the  Speech, 
is  intended  to  exprefs  the  meaning  of  the  parallel 
one  in  the  Chronicle :  it  cannot  therefore  be  credit- 
ed, that  any  man,  when  the  Original  was  produced, 
fliould  ftill  chufe  -to  defend  a  cant  acceptation  j  and 
inform  us,  perhaps,  ytr;':;///?)',  that  in  gaming  language, 
from  I  know  not  what  practice,  to  tye  is  to  equal !  A 
fenfe  of  the  word,  as  far  as  I  have  yet  found,  unknown 
to  our  old  Writers ;  and,  \^  knozun,  would  not  fure- 
ly  have  been  ufed  in  this  place  by  our  Author. 

But  let  us  turn  from  conjc<5lure  to  Shakefpeare's 
authorities.  Hall,  from  whom  the  above  defcription 
is  copied  by  Holbigjhed,  is  very  explicit  in  the  de- 
mands of  the  Cardinal:  who  having  infolently  told 
the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen^  "  For  fothe  I  thinke, 
that  halfe  your  fubftaunce  were  to  litle,"  aflurcs  them 
by  way  of  comfort  at  the  end  of  his  harangue,  that 
2  tipcn 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.  49 
iipon  an  average  the  tythe  (hould  be  fufficient ;  "  Sers, 
fpeake  not  to  breake  that  thyng  that  is  concluded, 
for  Jome  (hal  not  paie  the  tenth  parte,  T^nAfome  more." 
—  And  again  ;  "  Thei  faied,  the  Cardinall  by  Vifi- 
tacions,makyngof  Abbottes,  probates  ofteftamentes, 
graunting  of  faculties,  licences,  and  other  pollyngs 
in  his  Courtes  legantines,  had  made  his  ihreafore 
egall  with  the  kynges.'''  Edit.  1548.  p.  138.  and  143. 
Skelton,^  in  his  TVhy  co?ne ye  not  to  Court,  gives  us, 

after 
^  His  Poems  are  printed  with  the  title  of  "  Pithy, 
Pleafaunt,  and  Profitable  Workes  of  Maifter  Skelton,  Poete. 
Laureate.''^ — But,  fays  Mr.  Cibber,  after  feveral  other 
Writers,  "  how  or  by  what  Intereft  he  was  made  Lanreat, 
or  whether  it  was  a  title  he  aflumed  to  himfelf,  cannot 

be   determined." This  is  an  error  pretty  generally 

received,  and  it  may  be  worth  our  while  to  remove  it. 

A  facetious  Author  fays  fomewhere,  that  a  Peet  Lau- 
reate in  the  modern  Idea,  is  a  Gentleman,  who  hath  an 
annual  Stipend  for  reminding  us  of  the  ISenfj  Tear,  and 
the  Birth-day  :  but  formerly  a  Poet  Laureat  was  a  real 
Uni'verjity  Graduate. 

"  Skelton  wore  the  Lawrell  wreath 
And  pall  mfchocls  ye  knoe." 
fays  Churchyarde  in  the  Poem  prefixed  to  his  Works.  And 
Mafler  Caxton  in  his  Preface  to  The  boke  of  Eneydos,  1490. 
hath  a  pafTage,  which  well  deferves  to  be  quoted  with- 
out abridgment :  "I  praye  mayfter  John  Skelton,  late 
created  poete  laureate  in  the  uny-uerjite  ofOxenforde,  to  over- 
fee  and  correfte  thys  fayd  booke,  and  taddrefle  and  ex- 
povvne  whereas  fhall  be  founde  faulte,  to  theym  that 
fhall  requyre  it ;  for  hym  I  knowe  for  fufFycyent  to  ex- 
powne  and  Englyfshe  every  dyfficulte  that  is  therein ; 
for  he  hath  late  travi  dated  the  epyftles  of  Tidki  and  the 
G  book 


50  AnESSAYonthe 

after  his, rambling  manner,  a  curious  charad^er  of 

Wolfey: 

• '  '  •'  By  and  by 

He  will  drynke  us  fo  dry 
And  fucke  us  fo  nye 
That  men  fhall  fcantly 
Haue  penny  or  halpennye 
God  faue  hys  noble  grace 
And  graunt  him  a  place 
EndlefTe  to  dwel 
With  the  deuill  of  hcl 
For  and  he  were  there 
We  nead  neuer  feare 

book  of  Dyodorus  Syculus,  and  diverfe  otJier  workes,  out 
oi  Latynvcwo  Englijshe^  not  in  rude  and  old  langage,  but 
in  poiyfhed  and  ornate  termes,  craftely,  as  he  that  hath 
redde  Vyrgyle,  Ouyde,  Tullyc,  and  all  the  other  noble  poets 
and  oratours,  to  me  unknowen  :  and  alfo  he  hath  redde 
the  IX  mufes,  and  undcrilands  their  muficalle  fcyences, 
and  to  whom  of  them  eche  fcycnce  is  appropred  :  I  fup- 
pofe  he  hath  dronken  of  Elycoiis  well !" 

I  find,  from  Mr.  Bakcr''s  MSS.  that  our  Laureat  was 
admitted  ad  luiidcm  at  Cambridge :  "  An.  Dom.  1493.  & 
Hen.'j.  nono.  Conceditur  y^^r  •^'f^Z/ow  Poete  in  partibua 
tranfmarinis  atque  Qxon.  Laurca  ornato,  ut  apud  nos 
eadem  decoraretur."  And  afterward,  "  An.  150^  Conce- 
dS.x.M.xJoh'i  SkcltoH,  Poetas  Laureat.  quod  poflit  ftare  codem 
gradu  hie,  quo  iletit  O.xomis^  &.  quod  poflit  uti  habitu 
iibi  concefTo  a  Principe." 

See  likewife  Dr.  Knight'' s  Life  of  CoUt.  p.  122.  And 
Tlechefches  fur  les  Poetes  couronnez,  par  M.  1'  Abbe  du 
Re/nel,  in  i\i^Memoires  dcLiitirature.  Vol.  10.  Paris.  410. 
1736. 

7  Of 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.     51 

Of  the  feendes  blacke 

For  I  undertake 

He  wold  fo  brag  and  crake 

That  he  wold  than  make 

The  deuils  to  quake 

To  fh  udder  and  to  Ihake 

Lyke  a  fier  drake 

And  with  a  cole  rake 

Brufe  them  on  a  brake 

And  binde  them  to  a  ftake 

And  fet  hel  on  fyre 

At  his  owne  defire 

He  is  fuch  a  grym  fyre!'*  Edit.  1568. 

Mr.  Upton  and  feme  other  Criticks  have  thought 
it  very  fcholar-lih  in  Hamlet  to  fwear  the  Centinels 
on  a  Sword:  but  this  is  for  ever  met  with,  f^or 
inftance,  in  the  Pajfus  primus  of  Pierce  Plowman^ 

*'  Dauidm  his  daies  dubbed  knightes. 

And  did  hemfwere  on  her  f=-Mord  to  ferue  truth  euer." 

And  in  Hieronymo^  the  common  Butt  of  our  Author, 
and  the  Wits  of  the  time,  fays  Lorenzo  to  Pedri?igano, 

"  Swear  on  this  crofs,  that  what  thou  fayft  is  true  — 
But  if  I  prove  thee  perjured  and  unjuft. 
This  very  /ix'ord,  whereon  thou  tcok'ft  thine  oath 
Shall  be  the  worker  of  thy  Tragedy  !" 

We  have  therefore  no  occafion  to  go  with  Mr.  Gar^ 

rid  as  far  as  the  French  of  Brant Sme  to  illuftrate  this 

G  Z  ceremony : 


52  AnESSAYonthe 

ceremony  :  y  a  Gentleman.,  who  will  be  always  allow- 
ed thefirji  Commentator  on  Shalefpeare^  when  he  does 
not  carry  us  beyond  himjelf. 

Mr.  Upton  however,  m  the  next  place,  produces  a  paf- 
fage  from  Henry  thefixthy  whence  he  argues  it  to  be  very 
plain,  that  our  Author  had  not  only  read  Cicero's  Offices., 
but  even  more  critically  than  many  of  the  Editors  ; 

"  This  Villain  here 

Being  Captain  of  a  Pinnace,  threatens  more 
Than  Bargulus,  the  ftrong  lllyrian  Pirate." 

So  the  Wight ^  he  obferves  with  great  exultation, 
is  named  by  Cicero  in  the  Editions  of  Shakefpeare's 
time,  "  Bargulus,  Illyrius  latro  ;"  tho'  the  mo- 
dern Editors  have  chofen  to  call  him  Bardylis :  — 

•'  and  thus  I  found  it  in  two  MSS." And  thushc 

might  have  found  it  mtivo  Tranflations,  before  5'/:'^^^- 
fpeare  was  born.  Robert  IVhytinton,  1533,  calls  him, 
"  Bargulus,  a  Pirate  upon  the  fee  of  Illiry'y"  and 
Nicholas  Grimald,  about  twenty  years  afterward, 
*'  Bargulus,  the  lllyrian  Robber."  z 

But  it  had  been  eafy  to  have  checked  Mr.  Upton's 
exultation,  by  obferving,  that  Bargulus  does  not  ap- 
pear in  \\\t  ^arto.  —  Which  alfo  is  the  cafe  with 

y  Mr.  John/on' s  Edit.   V.  8.  p,  171. 

z  I  have  met  with  a  Writer  who  tells  us,  that  a  Tranf- 
lation  of  the  Offices  was  printed  by  Caxton,  in  the  year 
148 1  :  but  fuch  a  book  never  exifled.  It  is  a  miftake  for 
^'  Tulliiis  ofolde  age,'^  by  John  Tiptoft,  Earl  of  Worcejier. 

feme 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.       53 

fome  fragments  oi Latin  verfes,  in  the  different  Parts 
of  this  doubtful  performance. 

It  is  fcarcely  worth  mentioning,  that  two  or  three 
more  Latin  palTages,  which  are  met  with  in  our  Au- 
thor, are  immediately  tranfcribed  from  the  Story  or 
Chronicle  before  him.  Thus  in  Henry  the  fifths 
whofe  right  to  the  kingdom  of  France  is  copioufly 
demonftrated  by  the  Archbijhop. 

■  *'  There  is  no  bar 

To  make  againll  your  Highnefs'  claim  to  Francey 
But  this  which  they  produce  from  Pharamond : 
In  terram  Salica??i  mulieres  ne  fuccedant ; 
No  Woman  (hall  fucceed  in  Salikc  land  : 
Which  Salike  land  the  French  unjuflly  gloze 
To  be  the  realm  of  France,  and  Pharamcnd 
The  founder  of  this  law  and  female  bar. 
Yet  their  own  authors  faithfully  affirm. 
That  the  land  Sdlikc  lies  in  Germany, 
Between  the  floods  of  Sala  and  oi'  E/ve,  c'vc." 

Archbifhop  Chichelie,  fays  HolingJIjed^  *'  did  much  in- 
ueie  againft  the  furmlfed  and  falfe  fained  law  Salike^ 
which  the  Frenchmen  alledge  euer  againft  the  kings  of 
England  in  barre  of  their  jull  title  to  the  crowne  of 
France.  The  very  words  of  that  fuppofed  law  are  thefe. 
In  \.txx-^vc\Salicam  inulieres  ne  fuccedant, that  is  to  faie. 
Into  the  Salike  land  let  not  women  fucceed ;  which 
the  French  gloffers  expound  to  be  the  realm  of  France, 
and  that  this  law   was  made  by  King  Pharamond: 

whereas 


54  AnESSAYonthe 

vvhereas  yet  their  owne  authors  aftirme,  that  the  land 
Salikc  is  in  Germanic^  between  the  rivers  of  Elbe  and 
Sala,  &c."    p.  545. 

It  hath  lately  been  repeated  from  Mr.  Guthrie's 
*'  EfTay  upon  EngUJh  Tragedy,"'  that  the  Portrait  of 
J^acbcth's  IVife  is  copied  from  Buchanan^  "  whofe 
fpirit,  as  well  as  words,  is  tranflated  into  the  Play 
of  Shake/pear e :  and  it  had  fignified  nothing  to  have 

pored  only  on  Holingfied  for  Fa^s." "  Animus 

etiam,  per  fe  ferox,  prope  quotidianis  conviciis  uxoris 
(quae  omnium  confiliorum  ei  erat  confcia)  ftimula- 
batur." —  This  is  the  whole,  thzt  Buchanan  fays  of  the 
Lady,  and  truly  I  fee  no  more  fpirit  in  the  Scotchy 
than  in  the  EngUJh  Chronicler.  "  The  wordes  of 
the  three  weird  Sifters  alfo  greatly  encouraged  him 
£to  the  Murder  of  Duncan'],  but  fpecially  his  wife 
lay  fore  upon  him  to  attempt  the  thing,  as  (he  that 
was  very  ambitious,  brenning  in  unquenchable  de- 
fire  to  bcare  the  name  of  a  Queene."  Edit.  1577. 
p.  244. 

This  part  of  HcUng/lKd  is  an  Abridgment  of 
Jokne  BcUenden's  tranflation  of  the  noble  clerk,  He£ior 
Boece,  imprinted  at  Edingburgh,  in  FoL  1541.  I  will 
give  the  pafTagc  as  it  is  found  there,  *'  His  wyfe  im- 
pacient  of  lang  tary  [as  all  zvcmen  ar)  fpecially  quhare 
theyar  defirus  of  ony  purpos,  gaif  hym  gret  artation 
to  purfew  the  thrid  weird,  that  fche  micht  be  ane 

quene. 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.  55 
quene,  calland  hymoft  tymis  febyl  cowart  andnocht 
defyrus  of  honouris,  fen  he  durfl:  not  afTailze  the  thing 
with  manheid  and  curage,  quhilk  is  ofFerit  to  hym 
be  beniuolence  of  fortoun.  Howbeit  findry  otheris 
hes  aflailzelt  fic  thinges  afore  with  maift  terribyl 
jeopardyis,  quhen  thay  had  not  fic  fickernes  to  fuc-r 
ceid  in  the  end  of  thairlaubourisashehad."  p.  173. 
But  we  can  dernonjlrate.,  that  Shakifpeare  had  not 
the  Story  from  Buchanan.  According  to  hiniy  the 
Weird-Sifters  falute  Macbeth,  "  Una  Angufia  Tha- 

num,  altera  Moravia,  tertia  Regem." Thane  of 

Angus,  and  of  Murray,  i^c.  but  according  to  Holing- 
Jhed,  immediately  from  Bellendcn,  as  it  ftands  in 
Shakefpeare,  "  The  firfl:  of  them  fpakc  and  fayde. 
All  hayle  Makbeth  Thane  of  Glammis,  —  the  fecond 
of  them  faid,  Hayle  Makbeth  Thane  of  Cawder  ;  but 
the  third  fayde,  All  hayle  Makbeth,  that  hereafter 
fliall  be  king  of  Scotland."    p.  243. 

«« I  Witch.    All  hail,    Macbeth'   Hail  to  thee,  Thatx 
of  Clamis  / 

2  Witch.    All  hail,  Macbeth  !  Hail  to  thee.  Thane  of 

Qa<u;dor  ! 

3  Witch.     All    hail,    Macbeth !    that   Ihalt  be   Kin^ 

hereafter  !" 

Here  too  our  Poet  found  the  equivocal  Predictions, 
on  which  his  Hero  fo  fatally  depended.  *'  He  had 
learned  of  certain  wyfards,  how  that  he  ought  to 

take 


56  A  N    E  S  S  A  Y    O  N    T  H  E 

take  heede  oi Macduf^'e ; and  furely  hereupon  hzi 

he  put  Macdujfe  to  death,  but  a  certaine  witch  whom 
he  had  in  great  truft,  had  tolde,  that  he  fliould  neuer 
be  flain  with  man  borne  of  any  woman^  nor  vanquifhed 
till  the  Wood  of  Bernane  came  to  the  Caftell  of  Dun- 
finaneT  p.  244.  And  the  Scene  between  Malcolm 
and  Macdujf'm  the  fourth  a(5t  is  almoft  literally  taken 
from  the  Chronicle. 

Macbeth  was  certainly  one  of  Shakefpeare's  lateft 
Produ6tions,  and  it  might  poflibly  have  been  fug- 
gefted  to  him  by  a  little  performance  on  the  fame 
fubjedl  at  Oxford^  before  King  Ja?ncs^  1605.  I  will 
tranfcribe  my  notice  of  it  from  Wake's  Rex  Platonicus: 
"  Fabulae  anfam  dedit  antiqua  de  Regia  profapia 
hiftoriola  apud  Scoto-Britannos  celebrata,  quas  narrat 
tres  olim  Sibyllas  occurrifl*e  duobus  Scctice  proceribus, 
Machetho  &  Bancboni^  &  ilium  prasdixilTe  Regem  fu- 
turum,  fed  Regem  nullum  geniturum ;  hunc  Regem 
non  futurum,  fed  Reges  geniturum  multos.  Vatici- 
nii  veritatem  rerum  eventus  comprobavit.  Banchonis 
cnim  e  ftirpe  Potentiinmus  Jacobui  oriundus."    p.  29. 

A  ftronger  argument  hath  been  brought  from  the 
Plot  of  Hamlet.  Dr.  Grey  and  Mr.  Whalley  aflure 
us,  that  for  //;/;,  ShsKcfpcare  mufl  have  read  Saxo  Gram- 
maticui  in  Latin,  for  no  tranflation  hath  been  made 
into  any  modern  Language.  But  the  truth  is,  he 
did  not  take  it  from  Sa\o  at  all ;  a  Novel  called  the 

Hy/lorie 


trfeARNlkc  OF  SHAkfesPEARE.  57 
Hyjiorie  of  Hamblet  was  his  original :  a  fragment  of 
Vvhich,  in  black  Letter^  I  have  been  favoured  with 
by  a  very  curious  and  intelligent  Gentleman,  to 
whom  the  lovers  of  Shakcfpeare  will  feme  time  or 
other  owe  great  obligations. 

It  hath  indeed  been  faid,  that  '^  it  fuch  an  hijlory  ex- 
ijlsy  it  is  almoft  impoflible  that  any  poet  unacquainted 
with  the  Latin  language  (fuppofing  his  perceptive 
faculties  to  have  been  ever  fo  acute)  could  have  caught 
the  charadeiiftical  madnefs  of  Hamlet,  defcribed  by 
Saxo  Grammaticus,  ^  fo  happily  as  it  is  delineated  by 
Shakefpeare." 

Very  luckilyj  our  Fragment  gives  us  a  part  of 
Hamkt^s  Speech  to  his  Mother,  which  fufficiently  re- 
plies to  this  obfcrvation.  —  *'  It  was  not  without  caufe, 
and  jufte  occafion,  that  my  geftures,  countenances 
and  words  feeme  to  proceed  from  a  madman,  and 
that  I  defire  to  baue  all  men  efteeme  mee  wholy  de- 
priued  of  fence  and  reafonable  underfl:anding,bycaufe 
I  am  well  aflurcd,  that  he  that  hath  made  no  con- 
fcience  to  kill  his  owne  brother,  (accurtomed  to  mur- 
thcrs,  and  allured  with  defire  of  gouernement  with- 

«  "  Falfitatis  enim  {Hamlethus)  alieniis  haberi  cupldus, 
ita  aftutiam  veriloquio  permifcebat,  ut  nee  diftis  veraci- 
tas  deeflet,  nee  acuminis  modus  verorum  judicio  prode- 
retur."  This  is  quoted,  as  it  had  been  before,  in  Mr. 
Guthrie's  EfTay  on  Tragedy,  with  -^fmall  variation  from 
the  Original.     See  Edit.  Fol.  164^.  p-50^ 

H  out 


58  An  ESS  A  Y  ON  tMfe 

out  controll  in  his  treafons)  will  not  fpare  to  fau# 
himfelfe  with  the  like  crudtie,  in  the  blood,  and  flefll 
of  the  loyns  of  his  brother,  by  him  maflacred  :  and 
therefore  it  is  better  for  me  to  fayne  madnefle  tlren  ■ 
to  ufe  my  right  fences  as  nature  hath  bellowed  them 
upon  me,  7'he  bright  fliining  clearnes  therof  I  am 
forced  to  hide  vnder  this  fhadow  of  diflimulation,  as 
the  fun  doth  hir  beams  vnder  fome  great  cloud,  when 
the  wether  in  fummer  time  ouercafteth  :  the  face  of 
a  mad  man,  ferueth  to  couer  my  gallant  countenance, 
and  the  geftures  of  a  fool  are  fit  for  me,  to  the  end 
that  guiding  my  fclf  wifely  therin  I  may  preferue  my 
Jife  for  the  Danes  and  the  memory  of  my  late  deceafed 
father,  for  that  the  defire  of  reuenging  his  death  is 
fo  ingrauen  in  my  heart,  that  if  I  dye  not  fhortly,  I 
hope  to  take  fuch  and  fo  great  vengeance,  that  thefe 
Countryes  fliall  for  euer  fpeake  thereof.     Neuerthe- 
Icfle  I  muft  flay  the  time,  meanes,  and  occafion,  left 
by  making  ouer  great  haft,  I  be  now  the  caufe  of 
of  mine  owne  fodaine  ruine  and  ouerthrow,  and  by 
that  meanes,  end,  before  I  beginne  to  efFecfl  my  hearts 
defire  :  hee  that  hath  to  doe  with  a  wicked,  difloyall, 
crucll,  and  difcourteous  man,  muft  vfe  craft,  and  po- 
litike  inuentions,  fuch  as  a  fine  witte  can  beft  imagine, 
not  todifcouer  his  interprife  :  for  feeing  that  by  force 
I  cannot  effed  my  dcfire,  rcafon  alloweth  me  by  dif- 
fimulation,  fuLtilue,  and  fgcret  practife*  to  proceed 
therein." 

But 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.  5^ 
But  to  put  the  matter  out  of  all  queftion,  my  com- 
municative Friend  above-mentioned,  Mr.  Capell^  (for 
why  fhould  I  not  give  myfelf  the  credit  of  his  name  r) 
hath  been  fortunate  enough  to  procure  from  the  Col- 
ledion  of  the  Duke  of  Newcajlle^  a  complete  Copy  of 
the  Hyjlorie  of  Hamblet^  which  proves  to  be  a  tranfla-^ 
tion  from  the  French  of  Belleforejl  \  and  he  tells  me, 
that  '*  all  the  chief  incidents  of  the  Play,  and  all  the 
capital  Charadlers  are  there  in  embryo^  after  a  rudq 
and  barbarous  manner  :  fentiments  indeed  there  are 
none,  that  Shakefpeare  could  borrow  ;  nor  any  ex- 
preflion  but  (?;//?,  which  is,  where  Hamlet  kills  Pobnius. 
behind  the  arras  :  in  doing  which  he  is  made  to  cry 

out,  as  in  the  Play,  "  a  rat,  a  rat !" So  much 

for  Saxo  Grammaticus ! 

It  is  fcarcely  conceivable,  how  induftrioufly  the 
puritanical  Zeal  of  the  laft  age  exerted  itfelf  in  de- 
(Iroying,  amongfl;  better  things,  the  innocent  amufe- 
ments  of  the  former.  Numberlefs  Tales  and  Poe7ns 
are  alluded  to  in  old  Books,  which  are  now  perhaps 
no  where  to  be  found.  Mr.  Capell  informs  me,  (and 
he  is  in  thefe  matters,  the  moft  able  of  all  men  to 
give  information)  that  our  Author  appears  to  have 
been  beholden  to  fome  Novels^  which  he  hath  yet 
only  feen  in  Freticb  or  Italian :  but  he  adds,  "  to  fay 
they  are  not  in  fome  EngliJJj  drefs,  profaic  or  metrical, 
and  perhaps  with  circumftances  nearer  to  his  flories, 
H  2  is 


«p  AnESSAYonthe 

is  what  T  will  not  take  upon  me  to  do  :  nor  indeed 
is  it  what  I  believe ;  but  rather  the  contrary,  and  that 
time  and  accident  will  bring  fome  of  them  to  light, 

if  not  all." 

IF.  Painter^  at  the  conclufion  of  the  fecond  Tome 
of  \\\%  Palace  of  Pkafure^  1567?  ^^t'^r/Z/^i  the  Reader, 
^*  bicaufe  fodaynly  (contrary  to  expe(5tation)  this 
Volume  is  rifen  to  greater  heape  of  leaues,  I  doe 
omit  for  this  prefent  time  fundry  Nouch  of  mery  de- 
vife,  referuing  the  fame  \o  be  joyned  with  the  reft 
of  an  other  part,  wherein  (hall  fucceede  the  remnant 
of  Bandello^  fpecially  futch  (fuffrable)  as  the  learned 
French  man  Francois  de  Belleforreji  hath  feleded,  and 
the  choyfeft  done  in  the  Italian.  Some  alfo  out  of 
ErizzOy  Ser  Giouanni  Florent'ino^  Parahofco^  Cynthioy 
Straparole.,  Sanfouinoy  and  the  beft  liked  out  of  the 
Qucene  o(  NauarrCy  and  other  Authors.  Take  thefe 
in  good  part,  with  thofe  that  haue  and  (hall  come 

forth." But  I  am  not  able  to  find,  that  a  third 

Tome  was  ever  publifhed :  and  it  is  very  probable, 
that  the  Interefl:  of  his  Bookfellers,  and  more  efpe- 
cially  the  prevailing  Mode  of  the  time,  might  lead 
him  afterward  to  print  his  fundry  Novels  feparately. 
If  this  were  the  cafe,  it  is  no  wonder,  that  fuch  fu- 
gitive Pieces  are  recovered  with  difiiculty  ;  when  the 
two  Tomes,  which  Tom.  Raivlinfon  would  have  called 
JuJIa  Folumina,  are  almoft  annihilated.     Mr.  Jmrs, 

who 


Learning  OF  Shakespeare.  6i 
who  fearched  after  books  of  this  fort  with  the  ut- 
moft  avidity,  moft  certainly  had  not  feen  them, 
when  he  publifhed  his  Typographical  Antiquities ;  as 
appears  from  his  blunders  about  them  :  and  poffibJy 
I  myfelf  might  have  remained  in  the  fame  predica- 
ment, had  I  not  been  favoured  with  a  Copy  by  my 
generous  Friend,  Mr.  Lort. 

Mr,  Colman,  in  the  Preface  to  his  elegant  Tranlla- 
tion  of  Terence^  hath  offered  fome  arguments  for  the 
Learning  of  Shakefpeare,  which  have  been  retailed 
with  much  confidence,  fince  the  appearance  of  Mr. 
yohnfcri's  Edition. 

*'  Befides  the  refemblance  of  particular  paflages 
fcattcred  up  and  down  in  different  plays,  it  is  well 
known,  that  the  Comedy  cf  Errors  is  In  great  meafure 
founded  on  the  Menachm  of  Plauius ;  but  I  do  not 
recolledt  ever  to  have  ken  it  obferved,  that  tlic  dif- 
guife  of  the  Pedant  in  the  Taming  of  the  Shrezv,  and 
his  affuming  the  name  and  character  of  Vincentio, 
feem  to  be  evidently  taken  from  the  difguife  of  the 
Bycophanta  in  the  Trinummus  of  the  faid  Author ;  ^  and 

there 

k  This  obfervation  of  Mr.  Colman  is  quoted  by  his  very 
ingenious  Colleague,  Mr.  Thornton^  in  his  Tranflation  of 
this  Play  :  who  further  remarks,  in  another  part  of  it, 
that  a  paffage  in  Romeo  and  Juliet,  where  Shake/peare  fpeaks 
pf  the  contradidion  in  the  nature  of  Xoi/^,  is  very  much  in 
the  manner  of  his  Author  : 

f  Amor  —  mores  hominummoros  &  morofos  efficit. 

Minus 


62  AnESSAYonthe 

There  is  a  quotation  from  the  Eunuch  oi  Terence  z\(o, 

fo  familiarly  introduced  into   the  Dialogue  of  the 

Taming 

Minus  placet  quod  fuadetur,  quod  difuadetur  placet. 
Quom  inopia'lt,  cupias,  quandoejus  copia'ft,  turn  non 
veils.   &c." 
Which  he  tranflates  with  eafe  and  elegance, 

"  Love  makes  a  man  a  fool. 

Hard  to  be  pleas'd. What  you'd  perfuade  him  to. 

He  likes  not,  and  embraces  that,  from  which 

You  would  difl'uade  him.  —  What  there  is  a  lack  of. 

That  will  he  covet ; when  'tis  in  his  power. 

He'll  none  on't." ^Sl  3.  Scene  3. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  pafiage  in  Shake/peare  : 

•'  O  brawllngLovc!  O  loving  hate  !  — — 

O  heavy  lightnefs  !  fcrious  vanity  ! 
Mif-fhapen  Chaos  of  well-feeming  forms  ? 
Feather  of  lead,  bright  fmoke,  cold  fire,  fick  health  \ 
Still-waking  Sleep  !  that  is  not  what  it  is  !" 
Shakcfpeare,   I  am  fure,   in  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Thornton^ 
did  not  want  a  Plautus  to  teach  him  the  workings  of  Na- 
ture ;  nor  are  his  Parallclifms  produced  with  any  fuch  \vs\- 
plication  :  but,  I  fuppofe,  a  peculiarity  appears  here  in 
the    manner   of   expreflion,     which    however   was    ex- 
tremely the  humour  of  the  Age.     Every  Sonettcer  cha- 
rafterifes  Love  by  contrarieties.  JVat/on  begins  one  of  his 
Canzonets, 

**  Love  is  a  fowre  delight,  a  furred  griefe 
A  living  death,  an  euer-dying  life,  &c." 
TurbtrvtUe  makes  Rea/on  harangue  againft  it  in  the  fame 
nianner, 

'*  A  fierie  Froft,  a  Flame  that  frozen  is  with  Jfe  ! 
A  heavie  Burden  light  to  beare !  a  Vertue  fraught  with 
Vice  !  &c." 
Immediately  from  the  Romaunt  nf  the  Rofe, 
"  Lone  it  is  an  hatefuU  pees 
A  free  acquitaunce  without  reles  — 

dm 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.      63 

Taming  of  the  Shrew,,  that  I  think  it  puts  the  queftion 

of  Shakejpeares  having  read  the  Roman  Comick  Poets 

in  the  original  language  out  of  all  doubt, 

Redime  te  captum,  quam  queas,  minimo.'* 

With  refpedl  to  refemblances,  I  fhall  not  trouble 

you  any   further.  —  That  the  Comedy  of  Errors  is 

founded  on  the  Menachmi^  it  is  notorious  :  nor  is  it 

lefs  fo,  that  a  Tranflation  of  it  by  W.  W.  perhaps 

JViUiam  IVarner^  the  Author  of  Alhions  England,  was 

extant  in  the  time  oi Shakefpeare-^^  tho'  Mr.  Upton, 

and 

j^n  heavie  burthen  light  to  heare 
A  wicked  wawe  awaie  to  weare : 
And  health  full  of  maladie 
And  charitie  full  of  envie  — 
A  laughter  that  is  weping  aie 
Reft  that  trauaiieth  night  and  dale,  &c." 
This  kind  of  .//^////'f/fj  was  very  much   the  tafte   of  the 
Prfvenfal  and  Italian  Poets  ;  perhaps  it  might  be  hinted 
by  the  Ode  of  Sappho  preferved  by  Longinm  :  Petrarch  is 
full  of  it, 

"  Pace  non  trovo,  &  non  ho  da  far  guerra, 
Et  temo,  &  fpero,  &  ardo,  &  fon  un  ghiaccio, 
Et  voio  fopra'l  cielo,  &  ghiaccio  in  terra, 
Et  nulla  ftringo,  &  tuttol  mondo  abbraccio.  &c." 

Sonet  to  105. 
Sir  Thomas  Wyat  gives  a  tranflation  of  this  Sonnet,  with- 
out any  notice  of  the  Original,  under  the  title  of  "  De- 
fcription  of  the  contrarious  paffions  in  a  Loucr."  A- 
mongft  the  Songes  and  Soneites,  by  the  Earle  of  Surrey, 
and  Others.   1574. 

<^  It  was  publifhcd  in  4to.  1595.  The  Printer  0^  Lang- 
iaim,  p.  524.  hath  accidently   given   the   date,    151?, 

which 


.64  AnESSAYonthe 

and  fome  other  advocates  for  his  learning,  havecaii- 
tioufly  dropt  the  mention  of  it.  Befides  this^  (if  in- 
deed it  were  different)  in  the  Gejla  Grayorum,  th^ 
Chriftmas  Revels  of  the  Gray  s- Inn  Gentlemen,  1594, 
•  "  a  Comedy  of  Errors  like  to  Plautiis  his  Menccbmus 
■was  played  by  the  Players."  And  the  fame  hath  beeu 
fufpected  to  be  the  Subjecfl  of  the  gocdlie  Comedie  of 
Plautus  acted  zxGreenwich  before  the  King  and  Queea 
in  1520  J  as  we  learn  from  Hall  and  HoUngJhed : — - 
Riccoboni  highly  compliments  the  Knglljh  on  opening 
their  ftage  fo  well ;  but  unfortunately,  Cavendi/h  in 
his  Lite  of  JJ'oIfy,  calls  it,  an  excellent  Interlude  in 
Latine.  About  the  fame  time  it  was  exhibited  in  Ger~ 
man  at  Nuremburghy  by  the  celebrated  Hanffach  the 
Shoemakir. 

"  But  a  character  in  the  Taming  of  the  Shrew  is 
borrowed  from  the  Trinummus,  and  no  tranflation  of 
that  was  extant." 

Mr.  Cohnan  indeed  hath  been  better  employ'd  :  but 
if  he  had  met  with  an  old  Comedy,  called  Suppofes, 
tranilated  from  Arioflo  by  George  Gafcoigne^  ^  he  cer- 
tainly 
which  hath  been  copied  implicitly  by  Gildoii,  TUobaU^ 
Cooke,  and  fcveral  others.  Warner  is  now  almoft  forgot- 
ten, yet  the  old  Criticks  eftcemed  him  one  of  "  our  chiefe 
hcroical  Makers." — Meres  informs  us,  that  he  had  "  heard 
him  termed  of  the  bell  v.'its  of  both  our  Univerfities,  our 
Eiiglljh  Homer." 

d  His  works  were  firft  collecled  under  the  fingular  title 

of  **  A  liundreth  fundrie  Flowres  bounde  up  iu  one  fmall 

5  Poefie. 


Learning  o  f  S  h  a  k  e'5P  e  ar  e.     65 

tainly  would  not  have  appealed  to  Plautus.  Thence 
Shake/pear ehoxrovi^d  this  part  of  the  Plot,  (as  well  as 
foraeof  thephrafeology)  though  y/^^/j^^Vi pronounces 
it  his  own  invention :  there  likewife  he  found  the  quaint 
name  of  Petruchio.  My  young  Mafter  and  his  Man 
exchange  habits  and  charaders,  and  perfuade  a 
Scenafe^  as  he  is  called,  to  perfonate  the  Father^  ex- 
adly  as  in  the  Taming  of  the  Shreiv,  by  the  pretend- 
ed danger  of  his  coming  from  Sienna  to  Ferrara^  con- 
trary to  the  order  of  the  government. 

Still,  Shakefpeare  quotes  a -line  from  the  Eunuch  of 
Terence  :  by  memory  too,  and  what  is  more,  "  pur- 
pofely  alters  it,  in  order  to  bring  the  fenfe  within 
the  compafs  of  one  line." This  remark  was  pre- 
vious to  Mr.  "Johnforii ;  or  indifputably  it  would  not 

have  been  made  at  all. "  Our  Author  had  this 

line  from  Lilly\  which  I  mention  that  it  may  not  be 
brought  as  an  argument  of  his  learning." 

But  how,  cries  an  unprovoked  Antagonift,  can 
you  take  upon  you  to  fay,  that  he  had  it  from  Lillyy 

Poefie.  Gathered  partly  (by  tranflation)  in  thefyneout- 
landifh  Gardins  of  Euripides,  Quid,  Petrarke,  Ariojlo,  and 
others  :  and  partly  by  inuention,  outofour  owne  fruitefull 
Orchardes  in  Englande  :  yelding  fundrie  fweete  fauours  of 
Tragical,  Comical,  and  Morall  Difcourfes,  bothe  plea- 
faun  t  and  profitable  to  the  well  fmellyng  nofes  of  leaned 
Readers."    BJad  fritter.  410.   no  date. 

I  not 


66  AnESSAYonthe 

and  not  from  Terence  ?  ^  \  will  anfwer  for  Mr.  "^ohn' 

fouy  who  is  above  anfwering  for  himfelf.  —  Becaufe 

it  is  quoted  as  it  appears  in  the  Grammarian,  and  not 

as  it  appears  in  the  Poet.  —  And  thus  we  have  done 

with  the  purpofed  alteration.     Uclall  likewife  in  his 

*'  Floures  for  Latin  [peaking,  gathered  oute  of  Terence, 

1560,"  reduces  the  palTage  to  a  fingle  line,  and  fub- 

joins  a  Tranflation. 

We  have  hitherto  fuppofed  Skakefpearc  the  Author 

of  the  Taming  of  the  Skrew,  but  his  property  in  it  is 

extremely  difputabie.     I  will  give  you  my  opinion, 

and  the  reafons  on  which  it  is  founded.    I  fuppofe 

then  the  prefent  Play  not  originally  the  work  of  Shake- 

fpcare,  but  reftored  by  him  to  the  Stage,  with  the 

whole  Indu^lion  of  the  Tinker,  and  fome  otlier  occa- 

fional  improvements  ;  efpecially  in  the  Charadler  of 

Petrucbio.    It  is  very  obvious,  that  the  Indu6lion  and 

the  Play  were  either  the  works  of  different  hands,  or 

written  at  a  great  interval  of  time  :  the  former  is  in 

our  Author's />*/?  manner,  and  the  greater  part  of  the 

latter  in  his  icorjl,  or  even  below  it.    Dr.  IVarhurton 

declares  it  to  \it  certainly  fpurious :  and  without  doubt, 

fuppofing  it  to  have  been  written  by  Shakefpeare,  it 

muft  have  been  one  of  his  earliejl  produdlions ;  yet 

it  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Lift  of  his  Works  by  Meus 

in  1598. 

«  W.  Kenrick's  Review  of  Dr.  John/on' s  Edit,  oi  Shake- 
fpeare. 1765.  8vo.  p.  105. 


Learning  OF  Shakespeare.  67 
I  have  met  with  a  facetious  piece  of  Sir  'John  Har- 
rington^ printed  in  1596,  (and  poffibly  there  may  be 
an  earlier  Edition)  called,  The  Metamorphofis  of  Ajax^ 
where  I  fufpe^l  an  allufion  to  the  old  Play;  "  Read 
the  booke  of  Taming  a  Shrew,  which  hath  made  a 
number  of  us  fo  perfedl,  that  now  every  one  can  rule 
a  Shrew  in  our  Countrey,  fave  he  that  hath  hir." 
—  I  am  aware,  a  modern  Linguift  may  objed,  that  the 
word  Book  does  not  at  prefent  feem  dramatick,  but  it 
was  once  almoft  technically  fo  :  GoJJon  in  his  Schools 
of  Abufe,  contayning  a  pleafaunt  inuedive  againfl 
PoetSy  PiperSy  Players,  Jefters,  and  fuch  like  G;/^r- 
/•/7/:7nof  a  Common-wealth,  1579,  mentions  "  twoo 
profe  Bookes  plaied  at  the  Bclfauage  "  and  Hear^ie 
tells  us  in  a  Note  at  the  end  of  Jl/'iUia?n  of  Worcejlery 
that  he  had  feen  a  MS.  in  the  nature  of  a  Play  ox  In- 
terlude, intitled,  the  Booke  of  Sir  Thomas  Moore''  f 

And 
*■  I  know  indeed,  there  is  extant  a  very  old  Poem, 
in  black  Letter,  to  which  it  might  have  been  fuppofed  Sir 
John  Harrington  alluded,  had  he  not  fpoken  of  the  Dif- 
covery  as  a  nexv  one,  and  recommended  it  as  worthy  the 
notice  of  his  Countrymen  :  I  am  perfuaded  the  method 
in  the  old  Bard  will  not  be  thought  either.  At  the  end  of 
the  fixth  Volume  of  Leland's  Itinerary ,  we  are  fa'uoured 
by  Mr.  Heame  with  a  Macaronic  Poem  on  a  Battle  at  Ox- 
ford between  the  Scholars  and  the  Tovvnfmen  :  on  a  line 
of  which, 

*'  Invadunt  aulas  lychefon  cum  forth  geminantes," 
our  Commentator  very  wifely   and    gravely   remarks  : 
"  Bycbefon,  id  eft,  ^on  of  a  Byche,  ut  e  Codice  Raivlin/o- 
I  2  niatfo 


68  AnESSAYonthe 

And  in  fa6V,  there  is  fuch  an  old  anonymous  Play  in 
Mr.  Pope's  Lift.  "  A  pleafant  conceited  Hiftory, 
called,  The  Taming  of  a  Shrew — fundry  times  a6led 
by  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  his  Servants."  Which  feems 
to  have  been  republifhed  by  the  Remains  of  that  Com- 
pany in  1607,  when  Shakefpeare's  copy  appeared  at 
xht  Black- Friars  or  the  Globe. — Nor  let  this  feem 
derogatory  from  the  chara(5lcr  of  our  Poet.  There  is 
no  reafon  to  believe,  that  he  wanted  to  claim  the 
Play  as  his  own  ;  it  was  not  even  printed  'till  fome 

niano  fidldi.  Eo  nempe  modo  quo  et  dim  Wborfon  dixerunt 
pro  Son  of  a  JVhcrc.  Exempla  habemus  cum  alibi  turn  in 
libello  qiiodam  lepido  &  antiquo  (inter  Codices  StUenia- 
ros  in  Biol.  Bodl.)  qui  infcribitur  :  The  Wife  lapped  in 
Morels  Skyn :  or  the  Taming  of  a  Shreiv.  Ubi  pag.  36. 
fic  legimus  ; 

"  They  wreftled  togvther  thus  they  two 
So  long  that  the  cjothcs  afunder  went. 
And  to  the  ground  he  threwe  her  tho. 

That  clcane  from  the  backe  her  fmock  he  rent. 
In  every  hand  a  rod  he  gate. 

And  layd  upon  her  a  right  good  pace  : 
Aflcing  of  lier  what  game  was  that. 

And  {he  cried  out,  Hcrefcrit  alas,  alas." 
Etpag.43. 

Come  downe  now  in  this  feller  fo  deepe. 

And  Morels  fkin  there  fhall  you  fee  : 
"With  many  a  rod  that  hath  made  me  to  weepe, 

When  the  blood  rannc  downe  faft  by  my  knee. 
The  Mother  this  beheld,  and  cryed  out,  alas  : 

And  ran  out  of  the  feller  as  flie  had  been  wood. 
She  came  to  the  table  where  the  company  was, 
And  fayd  out,  Hore/ony  I  will  fee  thy  harte  blood." 

years 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.  69 
years  after  his  death :  but  he  merely  revived  it  on 

his  Stage  as  a  Manager. Raven/croft  aflures  us, 

that  this  was  really  the  cafe  with  Titus  Andronicus  \ 
which,  it  may  be  obferved,  hath  not  Shakefpeare's 
name  on  the  Title-page  of  the  only  Edition  publifti- 
ed  in  his  life-time.  Indeed,  from  every  internal  mark, 
I  have  not  the  leaft  doubt  but  this  horrible  Piece  was 
originally  written  by  the  Author  of  the  Lines  thrown 
into  the  mouth  of  the  Player  in  Hamlet^  and  of  the 
Tragedy  of  Locrine :  which  likewife  from  fome  alfift- 
ance  perhaps  given  to  his  Friend,  hath  been  unjuft- 
ly  and  ignorantly  charged  upon  Shakefpeare. 

But  iht  Jheet-anchor  holds  faft  :  Shakefpeare  himfelf 
hath  left  fome  Tranflations  from  Ovid.  The  Epiftles, 
fays  One,  of  Paris  and  Helen  give  a  fufficient  proof 
of  his  acquaintance  with  ikat  poet ;  and  it  may  be 
concluded,  fays  Another,  that  he  was  a  competent 
judge  of  other  Authors,  who  wrote  in  the  fame  lan- 
guage. 

This  hath  been  the  unlverfal  cry,  from  Mr.  Pope 
himfelf  to  the  Criticks  of  yefterday.  Pofllbly,  how- 
ever, the  Gentlemen  will  hefitate  a  moment,  if  we 
tell  them,  that  Shakefpeare  was  not  the  Author  of 
thefe  Tranflations.  Let  them  turn  to  a  forgotten 
book,  by  Thomas  Heyjuood.,  called  Britaines  Troy, 
printed  by  JV.  Joggard  in  1609,  FoL  and  they 
)vill  find  thefe  identical  Epiftles,  "  which  being  fo 

pertinent 


^o  AnESSAYonthe 

pertinent  to  our  Hiftorie,  fays  Heywood,  I  thought 
neceflarie  to  tranflate." — How  then  came  they  afcrib- 
ed  to  Shakefpeare  ?  We  will  tell  them  that  likewife. 
The  fame  voluminous  Writer  published  an  Apology 
for  J^ors^  4to.  1612,  and  in  an  Appendix  directed 
to  his  new  Printer  Nic.  Okes^  he  accufes  his  old  One, 
Jaggard^  of  "  taking  the  two  Epiftles  oi Paris  io  Helen, 
and  Hele?i  to  Paris,  and  printing  them  in  a  lefs  vo- 
lume under  the  name  oi  Jnother  :  —r-hu\.he  was  much 
offended  with  Mafter  "Jaggard,  that  altogether  un- 
knowne  to  him,  he  had  prefumed  to  make  fo  bold 
with  his  Name."  s  In  the  fame  work  of  Heywood  are 
all  the  other  Tranflations,  which  have  been  printed 
in  the  modern  Editions  of  the  Poems  of  Shakefpeare, 
You  now  hope  for  land  :  We  have  feen  through 
little  matters,  but  what  muft  be  done  with  a  whole 
book?  —  In  1751,  was  reprinted  "  A  compendious 
or  briefe  examination  of  certayne  ordinary  complaints 
of  diuers  of  our  Countrymen  in  thefe  our  days : 
which  although  they  are  in  fome  parte  unjuft  and 
friuolous,    yet   are   they  all   by    way  of  Dialogue 

g  It  may  feem  little  matter  of  wonder,  that  the  name  of 
Shakefpeare  fhould  be  borrowed  for  the  benefit  of  the  Book- 
feller  ;  and  by  the  way,  as  probably  for  a  Play  as  a  Poem  : 
but  modern  Criticks  may  be  furprifed  perhaps  at  the 
complaint  oi  John  Hall,  that  *'  certayne  Chapters  of  the 
Pro-verbes,  tranflated  by  him  into  £«?///^  metre,  1550, 
had  before  been  untruely  entituled  to  Be  the  doyngs  of 
Mi)'ller  Thomas  Sternholdr 

throughly 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.       71 

throughly  debated   and  difcufled  by  JVilliam  Shake- 
fpeare.  Gentleman."    8vo. 

This  extraordinary  piece  was  originally  publiftied 
in  4to,  1581,  and  dedicated  by  the  Author,  "  To 
the  moft  vertuous  and  learned  Lady,  his  moft  deare 
and  foveraigne  Princefle,  Elizabeth;  being  inforced 
by  her  Majefties  late  and  fingular  clemency  in  par- 
doning certayne  his  unduetifull  mifdemeanour."  And 
by  the  modern  Editors,  to  the  late  King ;  as  "  a 
Treatife  compofed  by  the  moft  extenfive  and  fertile 
Genius,  that  ever  any  age  or  nation  produced." 

Here  we  join  iflue  with  the  Writers  of  that  excel- 
lent, tho'  very  unequal  work,  the  Biographia  Bri- 
tannica :  ^  if,  fay  they,  this  piece  could  be  written  by 

our 
Ji  I  mufl  however  corre6l  a  remark  in  the  Life  o{ Spe?ifery 
which  is  inipotently  levelled  at  the  firft  Criticks  of  the 
age.  It  is  obferved  from  the  correfpondence  of  Spenfer 
and  Gabriel  Hawcy.,  that  the  Plan  of  the  Fairy  ^een  was 
laid,  and  part  of  it  executed  in  1580,  three  years  before 
t\icGieru/alc7nme  Liherata  wzs  printed  :  "  hence  appears  the 
impertinence  of  all  the  apologies  for  his  choice  o{ Ariofto's 
manner  in  preference  to  Taffo's  /" 

But  the  faft  is  not  true  with  refpeft  to  TaJJo.  Man/hand 
Nicerof!  inform  us,  that  his  Poem  was  publilhed,  though 
imperfcflly,  in  1574  ;  and  I  myfelf  can  affure  the  Bio- 
grapher, that  I  have  met  with  at  leafty/;f  other  Editions, 
preceding  his  date  for  it's  firft  publication.  I  fufpeft, 
that  Baillet  is  accountable  for  this  miftake :  who  in  the 
Jugemens  des  Swvaris,  Tom.  3.  p.  399.  mentions  no  Edi- 
tion previous  to  the  410.  Venice,  1583. 

It  is  a  queftion  of  long  ftanding,  whether  a  part  of  the 
6  Fairy 


y2  AnESSAYonthe 

our  Poet,  it  would  be  abfolutely  decifive  In  the  dif- 
pute  about  his  learning ;  for  many  quotations  ap- 
pear in  it  from  the  Greek  and  Latin  ClaiTicks. 

The  concurringcircumftances  of  the  A^tfw^,and  the 
Mi/demeanor^  which  is  fuppofed  to  be  the  old  Story 
of  Deer-jlealing.,  feem  fairly  to  challenge  our  Poet 
for  the  Author :  but  they  hefitate.  — His  claim  may 
appear  to  be  confuted  by  the  date  1581,  when  Shake- 
fpeare  was  only  Seventeen,  and  the  long  experience. 

Fairy  ^een  hath  been  Icjl,  or  whether  the  work  was  left 
unfinijhed :  which  may  effeftually  be  anfwered  by  a  fingle 
quotation.  VVilliatn  Brovjne  publifhed  fame  Poems  in  Fol. 
1 616,  under  the  name  oi Britannia's  Pcjiorais,  "  efteemed 
then,  fays  Wood,  to  be  written  in  a  fublime  ftrain,  and 

for  fubjeft  amorous  and  'very  pleajing." In  one  of  which. 

Book  2.  Song  I.  he  thus  fpeaks  of  Spsnfer  : 

"  He  fung  th'  heroickc  Knights  of  Faiery  land 
In  lines  fo  elegant,  of  fuch  command, 
That  had  the  Thracian  plaid  but  halfe  fo  well, 
He  had  not  left  Eurydice  in  hell. 
But  e^re  he  ended  his  melodious  Song, 
An  hoft  of  Angels  flew  the  clouds  among, 
And  rapt  x.\\h  Swan  from  his  attentive  mates. 
To  make  him  one  of  their  afToclates 
In  heauens  faire  Quire  :  where  now  he  fings  the  praife 
Of  him  that  is  the  Firjl  and  Laji  c/Dayes." 
It  appears,  that  Bro^wte  was  intimate  with   Draylon, 
Jon/on,  and  SeldiV:,  by  their  poems  prefixed  to  his  Book  : 
he  had  therefore  good  opportunities  of  being  acquainted 
with  the  fadl  abovcmentioned.     Many  of  his  Poems  re- 
main in  MS.     We  have  in  our  Library  at  Emmatiuel  a 
Mafque  of  his,  prcfented  at  the  Inner  Temple,  Jojt.  13. 
1614.     The  fubjcd  is  the  Stor)  of  Uly£es  and  Ctrce. 

which 


Learning  OF  Shakesp£are.     73; 

"which  the  Writer  talks  of.  —  But  I  will  not  keep  you 
infufpenfe :  the  book  was  not  written  by  Skakefpeare, 

Strype,  in  his  Annah^  calls  the  Author  some 
learned  Man,  and  this  gave  me  the  firft  fufpicion.  I 
knew  very  well,  that  honeft  John  (to  ufe  the  lan- 
guage of  Sir  Thomas  Bodley)  did  not  wafte  his  time 
with  fuch  baggage  books  as  Plays  and  Poems  j  yet  I 
muft  fuppofe,  that  he  had  heard  of  the  name  of  Shake- 
fpeare.  After  a  while  I  met  with  the  original  Edi-. 
tion.  Here  in  the  Title-page,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
Dedication,  appear  only  the  Initials,  W.  S.  Gent, 
and  prefently  I  was  informed  by  Anthony  Wood,  that 
the  book  in  queftion  was  written,  not  by  JViUiam. 
Shakefpeare,  but  by  IVilliam  Stafford,  Gentleman :  '*■ 
which  at  once  accounted  for  the  Mifdemeanour  in  the 
Dedication.  For  Stafford  had  been  concerned  at  that 
time,  and  was  indeed  afterward,  as  Camden  and  the 
other  Annalifts  inform  us,  with  fome  of  the  confpi- 
rators  againft  Elizabeth  ;  which  he  properly  calls 
his  unduetifull  behaviour. 

I  hope  by  this  time,  that  any  One  open  to  con- 
viction may  be  nearly  fatisfied ;  and  I  will  promife 
to  give  you  on  this  head  very  little  more  trouble. 

i  Fajii.  2d  Edit.  V.  I.  208.  —  It  will  be  feen  on  turn- 
ing to  the  former  Edition,  that  the  latter  part  of  the  Pa- 
ragraph belongs  to  another  Stafford.  —  I  have  fince  ob- 
ferved,  that  Wood  is  not  the  firit,  who  hath  given  us  the 
true  Author  of  the  Pamphlet. 

K  The 


^4  AnESSAYonthe 

The  juftly  celebrated  Mr.  Warton  hath  favoured 
lis,  in  his  Life  of  Dr.  Bathurfl^  with  fome  hearfay 
particulars  concerning  Shakefpeare  from  the  papers  of 
Aubrey^  which  had  been  in  the  hands  of  Wood;  and 
I  ought  not  to  fupprefs  them,  as  the  hfi  feems  to 
make  againft  my  dodrine.  They  came  originally,  I 
lind,  on  confulting  the  MS.  from  one  Mr.  Beeflon : 
and  I  am  fureMr.  Warton^  whom  I  have  the  honour 
to  call  my  Friend,  and  an  Aflbciate  in  the  queftion, 
will  be  in  no  pain  about  their  credit. 

*'  JVilliam  Shakefpeare^ $  Father  was  a  Butcher,  — 
while  he  was  a  Boy  he  exercifed  his  Father's  trade, 
but  when  he  killed  a  Calf,  he  would  do  it  in  a  high 
ftile,  and  make  a  fpeech.  This  JVilliam  being  in- 
clined naturally  to  Poetry  and  A(5ling,  came  to  Lort' 
don,  I  guefs,  about  eighteen,  and  was  an  A(5lor  in  one 
of  the  Playhoufes,  and  did  vnSt  exceedingly  well.  He 
began  early  to  make  EfTays  in  dramatique  Poetry.— 
The  humour  of  the  Conflahle  in  \\\t  Midfummer  Nighf  5 
Dream  he  happen'dto  take  at  Crendon  ^  in  Bucks. —  I 

^  It  was  obferved  in  the  former  Edition,  that  this  place 
5s  not  met  with  in  Spelman^s  Villarey  or  in  Adam^s 
Index  ;  nor,  it  might  liave  been  added,  in  thejirji  and 
the  lajl  performance  of  this  fort.  Speed's  Tables,  and  What^ 
iefs  Gazetteer :  perhaps,  however,  it  may  be  meant  un- 
der the  name  oiCrandon  ;  —  but  the  inquiry  is  of  no  im- 
portance. —  It  fhould,  I  think,  be  written  Credendon  ; 
tho'  better  Antiquaries  than  Aubrey  have  acquiefcedin  the 
vulgar  corruption. 

think. 


Learning  OF  Shakespeare.  75 
think,  I  have  been  told,  that  he  left  near  three  hun- 
dred pounds  to  a  Sijier.  —  He  underjlood  Latin  pretty 
xvelly  TQKhe  had  been  in  his  younger  yeares  a  SchooJmaJlcr 
in  the  Country" 

I  will  be  (hort  in  my  animadverfions ;  and  take 
them  in  their  order. 

The  account  of  the  Trade  of  the  Family  is  not 
only  contrary  to  all  other  Tradition,  but,  as  it  may 
feem,  to  the  inftrument  from  the  Herald's  office,  fo 

frequently  reprinted. Shakefpcarc  mofi:  certainly 

"went  to  London^  and  commenced  A<5tor  thro'  necef- 
fity,  not  natural  inclination.  — Nor  have  we  any  rea- 
fon  to  fuppofe,  that  he  did  a<5l  exceedingly  well.  Rowe 
tells  us  from  the  information  of  Betterton,  who  was 
inquifitive  into  this  point,  and  had  very  early  op- 
portunities of  Inquiry  from  Sir  TF.  Davenant,  that 
he  was  no  extraordinary  A£ior ;  and  that  the  top  of 
his  performance  was  the  Ghoft  in  his  own  Hamlet, 
Yet  this  Chef  d'  Oeuvre  did  not  pleafe :  I  will  give 
you  an  original  ftroke  at  it.  Dr.  Lodge,  who  was  for 
ever  peftering  the  town  with  Pamphlets,  publilhed 
in  the  year  1596,  IVits  miferie,  and  the  TForlds  mad- 
nejfe,  difcovering  the  Devils  incarnat  of  this  Age.  4to. 
One  of  thefe  Devils  is  Hate-virtue,  or  Sorrow 
for  another  mans  good  fuccejfe,  who,  fays  the  Dodor, 
is  **  a  foule  lubber^  and  looks  as  pale  as  the  Vi- 
K  2  fard 


76  AnESSAYonthei 

fard  of  the  GhoJ},  which  cried  fo  miferably  at  the 
Theatre,  hke  an  Oifler-wife,  Hamlet  revenge,"  Thus 
you  fee  Mr.  HoWs  fuppofed  proof,  in  the  Appendix 
to  the  late  Edition,  th.at  Hamlet  was  written  after 
1597,  or  perhaps  1602,  will  by  no  means  hold  good  ; 
whatever  might  be  the  cafe  of  the  particular  paflage 
on  which  it  is  founded. 

Nor  does  it  appear,  that  Shahcfpeare  did  begin  early 
to  make  EJJays  in  Dramaiique  Poetry  :  the  Arraign- 
ment  of  Paris,  1584,  which  hath  fo  often  been  afcribed 
to  him  on  the  credit  of  Kirhnan  and  fVinJlafiley,^  was 
written  by  George  Peek;  and  Shaktfpeareisnot  met  with, 
even  as  an  JJ/iJIant,  'till  at  leafl:  feven  years  afterward. i" 
"—Najh  in  his  Epiftle  to  the  Gentlemen  Students  of 
both  Univerfities,  prefixed  to  Greene's  Arcadia,  4to. 
Hack  Letter,  recommends  his  Friend,  Peele,  "  as  the 
chiefe  fupporter  of  pleafance  now  living,  the  Atlas  of 
Poetrie,  and  primus  Verlorum  artifex :  whofe  firft  in- 
creafe,  iht  Arraignment  of  Paris,  might  plead  to  their 

1  Thefe  people,  who  were  the  Curls  of  the  laft  age,  af- 
crlbe  likewife  to  our  Author  thofe  miferable  Performances, 
Mucidorus,  and  the  Merry  De'vil  of  Edmonton. 

»n  Mr.  Pope  aflerts  **  The  troublefome  Raigne  of  King 
Johni"  in  2  parts,  161 1,  to  have  been  written  by  Shake- 
j'peare  and  Ro-ix-ky :  —  which  Edition  is  a  mere  Copy  of 
another  in  black  Letter,  1591.  But  I  find  his  aflertion  is 
fomewhat  to  be  doubted:  for  the  old  Edition  hath  no 
name  o{  Author  at  all;  and  that  of  1611,  the  Initials 
only,  IV,  5h,  in  the  Title-page, 

opinions 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.      77 

opinions  his  pregnant  dexterltie  of  wit  and  manifold 
varietie  of  inuention."  " 

In  the  next  place,  unfortunately,  there  is  neither 
fuch  a  Charadter   as  a  Conjiable  in  the  Midfummer 

"  Peek  fcems  to  have  been  taken  into  the  patronage  of 
the  Earl  oi  Northumberland  <^q\x\.  1 593,  to  whom  he  de- 
dicates in  that  year,   "  The  Honour  of  the  Garter,   a  Poem 

Gratulatorie the  Firjlling  confecrated  to  his  noble 

name." *'  He  was  efteemcd,  fays  Anthony  Woody  a 

jnoft  noted  Poet,  1579;  but  when  or  where  he  died,  I 
cannot  tell,  for  Jo  it  is,  and  always  hath  been,  that  moft 
Poets  6.\e poor,  and  confequently  obfcurely,  and  a  hard 
matter  it  is  to  trace  them  to  their  Graves.  Claruit  1599.'* 
Ath.  Oxon.  Vol.  I.  p.  300. 

We  had  lately  in  a  periodical  Pamphlet,  called.  The 
Theatrical  Re'vieiu,  a  very  curious  Letter  under  the  name 
of  George  Peek,  to  one  Mafter  Henrie  Marie  ;  relative  to  a 
difpute  between  Shakefpeare  and  Alleyn,  which  was  com- 

promifed  by  Ben.  Jotifon. "  I  never  longed  for  thy 

companye  more  than  laft  night ;  we  were  all  verie  merrie 
at  the  Globe,  when  Ned  Alleyn  did  not  fcrnple  to  afFyrme 
pleafauntly  to  thy  friende  Will,  that  he  had  llolen  hys 
fpeeche  about  the  excellencie  of  afting  in  Hamlet  hys 
Tragedye,  from  converfaytions  manifold,  whych  had 
paffed  between  them,  and  opinions  gyven  by  Alleyn 
touchyng  that  fubjefte.  Shake/peare  did  not  take  this  talk 
in  good  forte ;  but  "Jon/on  did  put  an  end  to  the  ftryfe 
wyth  wittielie  faying,  thys  affaire  needeth  no  conten- 
tione  :  you  ftoleit  from  Ned  no  doubte  :  do  not  marvel : 

haue  you  not  feene  hym  afte  tymes  out  of  number  ? 

This  is  pretended  to  be  printed  from  the  original  MS, 
dated  1 600  ;  which  agrees  well  enough  with  Weed's  Cla- 
ruit :  but  unluckily,  Peele  was  dead  at  leall  two  years  be- 
fore. "  As  Aiu'.creon  died  by  the  Pot,  fays  Meres,  fo 
George  Peek  by  the  Pox"  Wit's  Treafury^  1598.  P-  286. 


^8  AnESSAYonthe 

Night's  Drcivn :  nor  was  the  three  hufidred poundshz" 
gacy  to  a  Siller,  but  a  Daughter. 

And  to  clofe  the  whole,  it  is  notpoflible,  accord- 
ing to  Aubrey  himfcif,  that  Shakcfpcdre  could  have 
been  Ibme  years  a  Schcolmajhr  in  the  Country^ :  on 
■which  circumflancc  only  the  fuppofition  of  his  learn- 
ing is  profefledly  founded.  He  was  not  furely  very 
young,  when  he  was  employed  to  kill  Calves^  and  he 
commenced  Player  about  Eij^hteen  !  —  The  truth  is, 
tliat  he  left  his  Father,  for  a  Wife,  a  year  fooner ;  and 
had  at  leaft  two  Children  born  at  Stratford  htioxc  he 
retired  from  thence  to  Z^;:^/i7/z.  It  is  therefore  fufficient- 
ly  clear,  that  poor yf/7/^5/;>' had  too  much  reafon  for  his 
character  of  Aubrey :  You  will  find  it  in  his  own  Ac- 
count of  his  Life,  published  by  Hearfie,  which  I 
would  earneftly  recommend  to  any  Hypochondriack ; 

*'^  A  pretender  to  Antiquities,  roving,  magotie- 
headed,  and  fometimes  little  better  than  crafed  :  and 
beinfT  exceedingly  credulous,  would  ftutf  his  many 
Letters  fcnt  to  A.  W.  with  fsl.'iries  and  mifinforma- 
tions."  p.  577. 

Thus  much  for  the  Learning  of  Shakefpeare  with 
refpe(St  to  the  ancient  languages :  indulge  me  with 
an  obfcrvation  or  two  on  his  fuppofed  knowledge  of 
the  modern  ones,  and  I  will  promife  to  releafe  you. 

"•  It  is  evident,  we  have  been  told,  that  he  was 
not  unacquainted  with  the  Italian  ;"  but  let  us-  in- 
quire into  the  Evide;:ce. 

Certainly 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.  7^ 
Certainly  fome  Italian  words  and  phrafes  appeaf 
in  the  Works  oi  Shokefpcare  ;  yet  if  we  had  nothing 
clfe  to  obferve,  their  Orthography  might  lead  us  to 
fufpecSl  them  to  be  not  of  the  JFriter's  importation^ 
But  we  can  go  further,  aud  prove  this. 

When  Ptjlol  *'  chears  up  hlmfelf  with  ends  of 
Verfe,"  he  is  only  a  copy  of  Htvmlball  Gonfaga,  who 
ranted  on  yielding  himfelf  a  Prifoner  to  an  £'7z^/;)7j Cap- 
tain in  the  Loiv  Countries^  as  you  may  read  in  an  old 
Colledlion  of  Tales,  called  TVits^  Fits,  and  Faucus,'^'' 

*'  Si  Fortuna  me  tormenta, 
II  fperanza  me  contenta." 

And  Sir  Richard  Hawkins,  in  his  Voyage  to  the  South- 
Sea,  1593,  throws  out  the  fame  jingling  Diftich  on 
the  lofs  of  his  Pinnace. 

"  Mafter  Page,  fit ;  good  Mader  Page,  fit  ;  Pro- 
face.  What  you  want  in  meat,  we'll  have  in  drink," 
fays  Juftice  Shallow's  Fac  totiun,  Davy,  in  the  2(1 
Part  oi  Henry  the  4th. 

Prof  ace.  Sir  Thomas  Hanmer  obferves  to  be  Italian 
from  profaccia,  much  good  may  it  do  you.  Mr.  Johnfon 
rather  thinks  it  a  miftake  for  perforce.    Sir  Thomai 

«>  By  one  Anthony  Copley,  410.  black  Letter,  it  fcems  to 
have  had  many  Editions  :  perhaps  the  laft  was  in  1614. 
—  The  firft  piece  of  this  fort,  that  I  have  met  with,  was 
printed  by  T.  Bcrthelcf,  the'  not  mention'd  by  y/r;«, 
called,  "  Talcs,  and  quicke  anfweres  very  mery  and 
pleafant  to  rede."  410,  no  date. 

4  howcveir 


go  AnESSAYonthe 

however  is  right ;  yet  it  is  no  argument  for  his  Au- 
thor's Italian  knowledge. 

Old  Heywood,  the  Epigrammatift,  addrefled  his 
Readers  long  before, 

"  Readers,  reade  this  thus :  for  Preface,  Proface, 
Much  good  do  it  you,  the  poore  repaft  here,  &c.** 

IVoorkes.  Lend.  410.  1562. 

And  Dckker  in  his  Play,  If  it  be  not  good^  the  Diuel 
is  in  it,  (which  is  certainly  true,  for  it  is  full  of 
Devils)  makes  Shackle-fmie,  in  the  character  of />;^r 
Rujh,  tempt  his  Brethren  with  "  choice  of  difhes'^ 

•'  To  which  profaa  ;  with  blythe  lookes  fit  yee." 
Nor  hath  it  efcaped  the  quibbling  manner  of  the 
Water-poet,  in  the  title  of  a  Poem  prefixed  to  his 
Fraifc  of  Hcmpfced,  "  A  Preamble,  Preatrot,  Prea- 
gallop,  Prcapace,  or  Preface ;  and  Proface,  my 
Matters,  if  your  Stomacks  ferve." 

But  the  Editors  are  not  contented  without  coining 
Italian.  "  R:-JG,fays  the  Drunkard,''  is  an  Expreffion 
of  the  madcap  prince  of  Wales-,  which  Sir  Tf)omas 
Hanmcr  corre(51s  to  Rihi,  Drink  away,  or  again,  as 
it  fliould  rather  be  tranflated.  Dr.  IVarhurton  accedes 
to  this  i  and  Mr.  Johnfon  hath  admitted  it  into  his 
7'ext ;  but  with  an  obfervation,  that  Rivo  might 
pofTibly  be  the  cant  of  Englijh  Taverns.  And  fo  in- 
deed it  was  :  it  occurs  frequently  in  Marfan.  Take 
a  quotation  from  his  Comedy  oi  What  yon  will;  1607. 

"  Muficke, 


Le  ARN  I  NG    OF   Sh  A  K  ESP  E  AR  E.      8l 

"  Muficke,  Tobacco,  Sacke,  and  Sleepe, 
The  Tide  of  Sorrow  backward  keep  : 
If  thou  art  fad  at  others  fate, 
Ri'voy  drink  deep,  give  care  the  mate.** 
In  Love's  Labour  loji,  Boyet  calls  Don  Armado^ 

**  A  Spaniard  that  keeps  here  in  Court, 

A  Phantafme,  a  Monarcho.*^ 

Here  too  Sir  Thomas  is  willing  to  palm  Italian  upon 
us.  We  (hould  read,  it  feems,  Mammuccio^  a  Mam- 
met,  or  Puppet :  Ital.  Mammuccia.  But  the  allufion 
is  to  a  fantaftical  CharaSler  of  the  time, —  "  Popular 
applaufe,  fays  Meres.,  dooth  nourifh  fome,  neither 
do  they  gape  after  any  other  thing,  but  vaine  praife 
and  glorie,  —  as  in  our  age  Peter  Shakerlye  of  Paules^ 
and  MoNARCHO  that  liued  about  theCourt."  p.  178. 
I  fancy,  you  will  be  fatistied  with  one  more  in- 
ftance. 

*'  Baccare,  You  are  marvellous  forward,  quoth 
Gremio  to  Petruchio  in  the  Taming  of  the  Shrew. 

"But  not  fo  forward,  fays  Mr.  Theobald,  as  ouf 
Editors  are  indolent.  This  is  a  ftupid  corruption  of 
the  prefs,  that  none  of  them  have  dived  into.  We 
muft  read  Baccalare,  as  Mr.  TFarburton  acutely  ob- 
ferved  to  me,  by  which  the  Italians  mean.  Thou  ig- 
norant, prefumptuous  Man."  —  "  Properly  indeed, 
adds  Mr.  Heath,  a  graduated  Scholar,  but  ironically 
and  farcaftically,  z  pretender  to  Scholarfhip." 

This  is  admitted  by  the  Editors  and  Criticks  of 
L  every 


8;2  AnESSAYonthe 

every  Denomination.  Yet  the  word  is  neither  wrong, 
nor  Italian :  it  was  an  old  proverbial  one,  ufed  fre- 
quently by  'Johii  Heywood-y  who  hath  made,  what  he 
pleafes  to  call.  Epigrams  upon  it. 

Take  two  of  them,  fuch  as  they  are, 
»   *'  Backare,  quoth  Mortimer  to  his  Sow  : 

Went  that  Sow  iacke  at  that  biddyng  trowe  you  r" 
**  Backare,  quoth  Mortimer  to  his  fow  :   fe 
Mortimers  fow  fpeakth  as  good  latin  as  he." 

Howel  takes  this  from  Heywood^  in  his  Old  Sawes  and 
Adages :  and  Philpot  introduces  it  into  the  Proverbs 
colle61ed  by  Camden. 

We  have  but  few  obfervations  concerning  Shake" 
fpeare's  knowledge  of  the  SpaniJI}  tongue.     Dr.  Grey 
indeed  is  willing  to  fuppofe,  that  the  Plot  of  Romeo 
and  Juliet  may  be   borrowed   from   a  Comedy 
of  Lopes  de  Vega.    But  the  Spaniard,  who  was  cer- 
tainly acquainted  with  Bandello,  hath  not  only  changed 
the  CatalUophe,  but  the  names  of  the  Charadters. 
Neither  Romeo  nor  Juliet ;  neither  Montague  nor  Ca^ 
pulet  appears  in  this  performance  :  and  how  came 
they  to  the  knowledge  of  Shakefpeare  ?  —  Nothing  is 
more  certain,  than  that  he  chiefly  followed  the  Tranf- 
lation  by  Painterfrom  the  French  ofBoiJleau,  and  hence 
arife  the  Deviations  from  Bandello's  original  Italian.  P 

It 

P  It  is  remarked,  that  "  Paris,  tho'  in  one  place  called 
Early  is  moft  commonly  ftiled  the  Countie  in  this  Play. 

Shake' 


Learning  OF  Shakespeare.       83 

It  feems  however  from  a  paflage  in  Ames's  Typogra- 
phical Antiquities,  that  Painter  was  not  the  only 
Tranflator  of  this  popular  Story  :  and  it  is  poffibic 
therefore,  that  Shakefpeare  Tt\\^X.  have  other  affiftance. 
In  the  Induction  to  the  Taming  of  the  Shrewy  the 
Tinker  attempts  to  talk  Spanijl) :  and  confequently  the 
Author  himfelf  was  acquainted  with  it, 

*'  Pauctis  pallabris,  let  the  World  Aide,  Sefa.'* 
But  this  is  a  burlefque  on  Hieronymo ;  the  piece  of 
Bombaft,  that  I  have  mentioned  to  you  before : 

Shakefpeare  feems  to  have  preferred,  for  fome  reafon  or 
©ther,  the  Italian  Conte  to  our  Count : — perhaps  he  took 
it  from  the  old  Englijh  Novel,  from  which  he  is  faid  to 
have  taken  his  Plot."  —  He  certainly  did  fo  :  Paris  is 
there  firft  Ililed  a  young  Earle,  and  afterward  Counte, 
Countee,  and  County;  according  to  the  unfettled  Ortho- 
graphy of  the  time. 

The  word  however  is  frequently  met  with  in  other 
Writers ;  particularly  in  Fairfax  : 

**  As  when  a  Captaine  doth  beliege  fome  hold. 
Set  in  a  marifh  or  high  on  a  hill. 

And  trieth  waies  and  wiles  a  thoufand  fold. 
To  bring  the  piece  fubjefled  to  hLs  will ; 

So  far'd  the  Countie  with  the  Pagan  bold.  &c." 

Godfrey  of  Bulloigne.  Book  7.  St.  go^ 
**  Fairfax,  fays  Mr.  Hume,  hath  tranflated  Tafo  with 
an  elegance  and  eafe,  and  at  the  fame  time  with  an  ex- 
adlnefs,  which  for  that  age  are  furprifmg.  Each  line  in 
the  original  is  faithfully  rendered  by  a  correfpondent  line 
in  the  tranflation."  The  former  part  of  this  charafter 
is  extremely  true ;  but  the  latter  not  quite  fo.  In  the 
Book  above-quoted  TaJJb  and  Fairfax  do  not  even  agree 
in  the  Number  of  Stanza! s. 

L2  "What 


84  AnESSAYonthe 

*'  What  new  device  have  they  devifed,  trow  ? 
Pocas pallabras,   &C.  '■ 

Mr.  Whalley  tells  us,  "  the  Author  of  this  piece 
hath  the  happinefs  to  be  at  this  time  unknown,  the 
remennbrance  of  him  having  perilhed  with  himfelf :" 
Philips  and  others  afcribe  it  to  one  William  Smith  : 
but  I  take  this  opportunity  of  informing  him,  that  it 
vas  written  by  Thomas  Kyd  j  if  he  will  accept  the 
authority  of  his  Contemporary,  Heyivood. 

More  hath  been  faid  concerning  Sbakefpeare's  ac- 
quaintance with  the  French  language.  In  the  Play  of 
Henry  the  fifths  we  have  a  whole  Scene  in  it :  and  in 
other  places  it  occurs  familiarly  in  the  Dialogue. 

We  may  obferve  in  general,  that  the  early  Edi- 
tions have  not  half  the  quantity  ;  and  every  fentence, 
or  rather  every  word  mofl:  ridiculoufly  blundered. 
Thefe,  for  feveral  reafons,  could  not  pofllbly  be  pub- 
lished by  the  Author  i  <?  and  it  is  extremely  probable, 

that 

q  Every  writer  on  Shakeffeare  hath  cxpreffed  his  afto- 
jiifhment,  that  his  author  was  not  felicitous  to  fecure 
his  Fame  by  a  correft  Edition  of  his  performances.  This 
matter  is  not  underftood.  When  a  Poet  was  connedled 
with  a  particular  Playhoufe,  he  conftantly  fold  his  Works 
to  the  Company,  and  it  was  tlieir  intereft  to  keep  them 
from  a  number  of  Rivals.  A  favourite  Piece,  zs  Hey^vsod 
informs  us,  only  got  into  print,  when  it  was  copied  by 
the  ear,  **  for  a  double  fale  would  bring  on  a  fupicion  of 
honeftie."  Shakefpeare  therefore  himfelf  publifhed  nothing 
in  tlie  Drama :  when  he  left  the  Stage,  his  copies  re- 
mained 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.      8^ 

that  the  French  ribaldry  was  at  firft  inferted  by  a  dif- 
ferent hand,  as  the  many  additions  mod  certainly 

were  after  he  had  left  the  Stage. Indeed,  every 

friend 

mained  with  his  Fellow-Managers,  Hsmivge  and  Condell\ 
who  at  thejr  own  retirement,  about  feven  years  after  the 
death  of  the  Author,  gave  the  world  the  Edition  now 
known  by  the  name  of  the  firjl  Folio  \  and  call  the  pre- 
vious publications  *'  ftolne  and  furreptitious,  maimed 
and  deformed  by  the  frauds  and  Healths  of  injurious  im- 
poftors."  But  this  was  printed  from  the  Playhoufe  Copies; 
which  in  a  feries  of  years  had  been  frequently  altered 
thro'  convenience,  caprice,  or  ignorance.  We  have  a 
Sufficient  inftance  of  the  liberties  taken  by  the  Aftors, 
in  an  old  pamphlet,  by  l>lajhy  called  Lenten  Stuffe, 
twit h  the  Prayfe  of  the  red  Herring,  \X.O.  1599.  where  he 
affures  us,  that  in  a  Play  of  his,  called  the  IJle  of  DogSf 
*■'■  foure  a£is,  without  his  confent,  or  the  lealt  gueffe  of 
his  drift  or  fcope,  were  fupplied  by  the  Players." 

This  however  was  not  his  firft  quarrel  with  them.  In 
the  Epiftle  prefixed  to  Greeners  Arcadia,  which  I  have 
quoted  before,  Tom.  hath  a  lafh  at  fome  '•  vaine  glorious 
Tragedians,"  and  very  plainly  at  Shakefpeare  in  particu- 
lar ;  which  will  ferve  for  an  anfwer  to  an  obfervation  of 
Mr.  Pope,  that  had  almoft  been  forgotten  :  "  It  was 
thought  a  praife  to  Shakefpeare,  that  he  fcarce  ever  blot- 
ted a  line  :  —  I  believe  the  common  opinion  of  his  want 
of  learning  proceeded  from  no  better  ground.    This  too 

might  be  thought  a  praife  by  fome." But  hear  Najh, 

who  was  far  from  praifing:  "  I  leaue  all  thefe  to  the  mer- 
cy of  their  Mother-tongue,  that  feed  on  nought  but  the 

crums  that  fall  from  the  Tranfator's  trencher. That 

could  fcarcely  Latinize  their  neclc  verfe  if  they  fliould 
haue  neede,  yet  Englijh  Seneca  read  by  Candlelight  yeelds 

many  good  fentences hee  will  affoord  you   whole 

Ha7nkt5,  I  fhould  fay,  Handfuh  of  tragicail  fpeeches." 
6  —I 


86  AnESSAYonthe 

friend  to  his  memory  will  not  eafily  believe,  that  he 
was  acquainted  with  the  Scene  between  Catharine 
and  the  old  Gentlewoman  ;  or  furely  he  would  not 
have  admitted  fuch  obfcenity  and  nonfenfe. 

Mr.  Hawkins,  in  the  Appendix  to  Mr.  Johnfon'i 
Edition,  hath  an  ingenious  obfervation  to  prove, 
that  Shakefpeare,  fuppofing  the  French  to  be  his,  had 
very  little  knowledge  of  the  language. 

*'  Eft-il  impoflible  d'efchapper  la  force de ton  Bras?" 
fays  a  Frenchman. —  "  Brafs,  cur  ?"  replies  Pijlol. 

—  I  cannot  determine  exadlly  when  this  Epijlle  was  firft 
publifhed;  but,  I  fancy,  it  will  carry  the  original  Hatn- 
let  fomewhat  further  back  than  we  have  hitherto  done  : 
and  it  may  be  obferved,  that  the  oldeft  Copy  now  extant 
is  faid  to  be  "  Enlarged  to  almoft  as  much  againe  as  it 
was."  Gabriel  Har-vey  printed  at  the  end  of  the  year  1 592, 
*'  Foure  Letters  and  certaine  Sonnetts,  efpecially  touch- 
ing Robert  Greene  ;"  in  one  of  which  his  Arcadia  is  men- 
tioned. Now  Nap^s  Epillle  mull  have  been  previous  to 
thefc,  as  Gabriel  is  quoted  in  it  with  applaufe  ;  and  the 
Foure  Letters  were  the  beginning  of  a  quarrel.  Nafi?  re- 
plied, in  "  Strange  newes  of  the  intercepting  certaine 
Letters,  and  a  Convoy  of  Verfes,  as  they  were  going 
privilie  to  viftuall  the  Lonv  Countries^  1593."  Harvey  re- 
joined the  fame  year  in  *'  Pierce's  Supererogation,  or  a 
new  praife  of  the  old  AfTe."  And  Najh  again,  in  "  Have 
with  you  to  Saffron-- vaUen,  or  Gabriell  Har'vey's  hunt  is 
up  ;  containing  a  full  anfwer  to  the  eldeft  Sonne  of  the 
halter-maker,  i  596." 

Dr.  Lodge  calls  Nojh  our  true  Evglijh  Aretine  :  and  John 
^a\'lor,  in  his  Kiclfty  Wiifey,  or  a  Lerrv  Come-tvoang.,  even 
makes  an  oath  "  by  fweet  Satyricke  Kajh  hisurne."  — 
Kc  died  before  1606,  as  appears  from  an  old  Comedy, 
called,  "  The  return  from  Parnoffus.''^ 

"  Almoft 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.      87 

*'  Almoft  any  one  knows,  that  the  French  word 
Bras  is  pronounced  Brau  j  and  what  refcmblance  of 
found  does  this  bear  to  Brafs  ?"  — 

Mr.  Johnfon  makes  a  doubt,  whether  the  pro- 
nunciation of  the  French  language  may  not  be 
changed,  fince  Shakefpcaris  time,  "  if  not,  fays  he, 
it  may  be  fufpeded  that  fome  other  man  wrote  the 
French  fcenes  :"  but  this  does  not  appear  to  be  the 
cafe,  at  lead  in  this  termination,  from  the  rules  of 
the  Grammarians,  or  the  pradice  of  the  Poets.  I 
am  certain  of  the  former  from  the  French  Alphaheth 
of  De  la  Mothe^  ^  and  the  Orthoepia  Gallica  of  John 
Eliot ;  s  and  of  the  latter  from  the  Rhymes  of  Maroty 
Ronfard,  and  Du  Bartas.  —  Connexions  of  this  kind 

were  very  common.    Shakefpeare  himfelf  aflifted  5if//. 

Jon/on  in  "his  Sejanus,  as  it  was  originally  written ; 

and  Fletcher  in  his  Two  noble  Kinfmen. 

But  what  if  the  French  fcene  were  occafionally  in-. 

troduced  into  every  Play  on  this  Subject  ?  and  per- 

^  Lond.  1592.  8vo. 

"^  Lond.  1 593.  4to,  Elim  Is  almoft  the  only  'witty  Gram- 
marian, that  I  have  had  the  fortune  to  meet  with.  In 
his  Eplftle  prefatory  to  the  Gentle  Dolors  of  Gaule,  he 
cries  out  for  perfecution,  very  like  Jack  in  that  moll 
poignant  of  Satires,  the  Tale  of  a  Tub,  '*  I  pray  you  be 
readie  quickly  to  cauill  at  my  booke,  I  befeech  you 
heartily  calumniate  my  doings  with  fpeede,  I  requeftyou 
humbly  con  troll  my  method  as  foone  as  you  may,  I  ear- 
neftly  entreat  you  hi/Te  at  my  inventions,  &c." 

haps 


88  AnESSAYonthe 

haps  there  were  more  than  one  before  our  Poet's.— 
In  Pierce  PeniJrJfe  his  Supplication  to  the  Diuell,  4to. 
1592.  (which,  it  feemsjfrom  the  Epirtic  to  the  Printer, 
was  not  the  firft  Edition,)  the  Author,  A^t?/^,  exclaims, 
**  What  a  glorious  thing  it  is  to  have  Henry  the  fifth 
reprefented  on  the  Stage  leading  the  French  King 
prifoner,  and  forcing  both  him  and  the  Dolphin  to 
fweare  fealty  !"  —  And  it  appears  from  the  Jefts  of 
the  famous  Comedian,  TarltoHy  4to.  i6ri.  that  he 
had  been  particularly  celebrated  in  the  Part  of  the 
Clown  in  Henry  the  fifth  y  but  no  fuch   Charader 

exifts   in    the   Play    of   Shakcfpeare. Henry  the 

ftxlh  hath  ever  been  doubted;  and  a  palTage  in 
the  above- quoted  piece  of  Naflj  may  give  us  rea- 
fon  to  believe,  it  was  previous  to  our  Author. 
*'  How  would  it  haue  joyed  braue  Talbot  (the 
terror  of  the  French)  to  thinke  that  after  he  had  lyen 
two  hundred  yearc  in  his  Toomb,  he  fliould  triumph 
again  on  the  Stage ;  and  haue  his  bones  new  em- 
balmed with  the  tcarcs  of  ten  thoufand  fpedators  at 
lead:  (at  feuerall  times)  who  in  the  Tragedian  that 
reprefents  his  perfon,  imagine  they  behold  him  frefli 

bleeding." 1  have  no  doubt  but  Henry  the  fjxth 

had  the  fame  Author  with  Edward  the  thirds  which 
hath  been  recovered  to  the  world   in  Mr.  CapcWi 
Prolufions. 
It  hath  been  obferved,   that  the  Giant  of  Rabelais 

is 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.  8g 
IS  fometimes  alluded  to  by  Shakefpeare :  and  in  h'n 
time  no  tranllation  was  extant.  —  But  the  Story  was 
in  every  one's  hand. 

In  a  Letter  by  one  Laneham^  or  Langham^  for  the 
name  is  written  differently,  ^  concerning  the  Enter- 
tainment at  Killingwoorth  Cajlle^  printed  1575,  we 
have  a  lift  of  the  vulgar  Romances  of  the  age,  "  Kin"- 
Jrthurz  book,  Huon  ofBurdeaus,  Friar  Rous^  Hozvle- 
glafs,  and  Gargantua.  Meres^  mentions  him  as 
equally  hurtful  to  young  minds  with  the  Four  Sons 
of  Jymotii  and  the  Seven  Champions.  And  John  Taylor 


*  It  is  indeed  of  no  importance,  but  I  fufpedl  the  for- 
mer to  be  right,  as  I  find  it  corrupted  afterward  to  La- 
natn  and  Lanum. 

"  This  Author  by  a  pleafant  miftake  in  feme  fenfible 
ConjeSlures  on  Shake/peare  lately  printed  at  Oxford,  is  quot- 
ed by  the  name  of  Maijier.  Perhaps  the  Title-page  was 
imperfeft ;  it  runs  thus  "  Palladis  Tamia.  Wits  Trea- 
fury.  Being  the  fecond  part  of  Wits  Common-wealth, 
By  Francis  Meres  MaiJler  of  Artes  of  both  Univerfities.'* 

I  am  glad  out  of  gratitude  to  this  man,  who  hath  been 
of  frequent  fervice  to  me,  that  I  am  enabled  to  perfedl 
Wood^s  account  of  him  ;  from  the  afiillance  of  our  Mafier''% 
very  accurate  Lift  of  Graduates,  (which  it  would  do 
honour  to  the  Univerfity  to  print  at  the  publick  expenfe) 
and  the  kind  information  of  a  Friend  from  the  Regifter 
of  his  Parifti :  —  He  was  originally  of  Pembroke-Hall, 
B.  A.  in  1587,  and  M.  A.  1591.  About  1602  he  became 
Reftor  oi  Wing  in  Rutla?id ;  and  died  there,  164.6,  in  the 
Sift  year  of  his  Age. 

M  hath 


go  AnESSAYonthe 

hath  him  likewife  in  his  catalogue  of  Authors,   pre- 
fixed to  Sir  Gregory  Nonfence.  '^ 

But  to  come  to  a  conclufion,  I  will  give  you  an. 
irrefragable  argument,  that  Shakefpeare  did  not  un- 
derhand tivo  very  common  words  in  the  French  and 
Latiti  languages. 

According  to  the  Articles  of  agreement  between 
the  Conqueror  Henry  and  the  King  of  France,  the 
latter  was  to  ftilc  the  former,  (in  the  corredlcd  French 
of  the  modern  Editions,)  "  Noftre  ires  cher  filz 
Henry  Roy  d'  Anglctgrre\  and  in  Latin,  PraclariJJimus 
Filius,  &c."  What,  fays  Dr.  JVarhmton,  is  tres  cher 
in  French,  praclarijfimus  in  Latin  !  we  fliould  read 
pracarijfimus.  —  This  appears  to  be  exceedingly  true  j 
but  how  came  the  blunder  ?  it  is  a  typographical  one 

'  I  have  quoted  many  pieces  of  John  Taylor,  but  it  was 
impofllble  to  give  their  original  dates.  He  may  be  traced 
as  an  Author  for  more  than  half  a  Century.  His  Works 
were  colledted  in  Fdio,  1630.  but  many  were  printed 
afterward  ;  I  will  mention  one  for  the  Humour  of  the 
Title.  "  Drinke  and  welcome,  or  the  fimous  Hiftoryof 
the  moft  part  of  Drinkes  in  ufc  in  Create  Britain  and  Ire- 
land ;  with  an  efpecial  Declaration  of  the  Potency,  Vcr- 
tue,  and  Operation  of  our  Englijh  Ale  ;  with  a  defcription 
of  all  forts  of  Waters,  from  the  Ocean  Sea  to  the  Tears  of 
a  Woman.  4to.  1633."— —In  Wits  Merriment,  cr  Lttjiy 
Drollery,  1656.  we  have  an  *'  Epitaph  on  y*/'«  T^y/or,  • 
who  was  born  in  the  City  of  Glocejler,  and  died  in  Phce- 
nix  Alley,  in  the  75  yeareof  his  age  ;  you  may  find  him, 
if  the  worms  have  not  devoured  him,  in  Ccvent  Garden 
Church-yard."  p.  1 30 He  died  about  two  years  before. 

5  "^ 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.  ^c 
jn  Holin^floed^  which  Shakefpeare  co^\c6  ;  but  muft  in- 
difputably  have  correfled,  had  he  been  acquainted 
with  the  languages.  —  *'  Our  faid  Father,  during  his 
life,  (hall  name,  calJ,  and  Vv-rite  us  in  French  in  this 
maner :  Noftre  ires  chier  filz,  Henry  Roy  d^Engkterre 
«— and  in  Lat'me  in  this  maner,  PradariJJimia  fill  us 
nofter."  Edit  1587.  p.  574. 

To  corroborate  this  inftance,  let  me  obferve  to 
you,  though  it  be  nothing  further  to  the  purpofe, 
that  another  error  of  the  fame  kind  hath  been  the 
fource  of  a  miftake  in  an  hiftorical  paflage  of  our 
Author ;  which  hath  ridiculoufly  troubled  the  Criticks. 

Richard  the  thirds  harangues  his  army  before  the 
Battle  of  Bofworthf 

"  Remember 

y  Some  inquiry  hath  been  made  for  the  firft  Performers 
of  the  capital  Charaftcrs  in  Shakefpeare. 

We  learn,  that  Burbage,  the  alter  Ro/cius  of  Camdetip 
was  the  original  Richard,  from  a  paflage  in  the  Poems  of 
Bifliop  Corbel  ;  who  introduces  his  Hoft  at  Bopworih  dcr 
icribing  the  Battle, 

"  But  when  he  would  have  faid  King  Richard  died. 
And  call'd  a  Hor/e,  a  Horfe,  he  Burbage  cried." 

The  Play  on  this  fubjed:  mentioned  by  Sir  John  Har- 
rington in  \\\i  Apologie  for  Poetrie,  159 1,  a-nd  fometimes 
miltaken  for  Shakefpe are's,  was  a  Latin  one,  written  by 
Dr.  Legge  ;  and  adled  at  5/.  Juhn^s  in  our  Univerfity, 
fome  years  before  1588,  the  date  of  the  <^opy  in  the 
Mufeutn.  This  appears  from  a  better  MS.  in  our  Library 
at  Emmanuel,  with  the  names  of  the  original  Performers. 

It  is  evident  from  a  pafl"age  in  Camden^ s  Annals,   that 

ithere  was  an  old  Plav  likewiie  on  the  fubjedt  of  Richard 

M  2  ihf 


g2  AnESSAYontue 

"  Remember  whom  ye  are  to  cope  withal, 
A  fort  of  vagabonds,  ofrafcals,  runaways— ir 
And  who  doth  lead  them  but  a  paltry  fellow 
Long  kept  in  Britaine  at  our  Mother'' s  coft, 

A  milklop,  &c." 

"  Our  Mother,"  Mr.  Theobald  perceives  to  be 
wrong,  and  Henry  was  fomewherc  fecreted  on  the 
Coniitiint :  he  reads  therefore,  and  all  the  Editors 
after  him, 

*f  Long  kept  in  Bretagjie  at  his  mother's  coft." 
But  give  me  leave  to  tranfcribe  a  few  more  lines 
from  HoUngjhcdy    and  you  will  find  at  once,  that 

Shakefpeare  had  been  there  before  me  : '*  Ye  fee 

further,  how  a  companie  of  traitors,  theeves,  out- 
laws and  runnagatcs  be  aiders  and  partakers  of  his 
feat  and  enterprife.  — And  to  begin  with  the  erle  of 
Richmond  captaine  of  this  rebellion,  he  is  a  Welfh 
milkfop  —  brought  up  by  my  AIoo!hcr''s  meanes  and 
mine,  like  a  captive  in  a  clofe  cage  in  the  court  of 
Francis  duke  of  Britaine."  p.  756. 

HoHngJJ)ed  copies  this  verbatim  from  his  Brother 
Chronicler  Halli  Edit.  1548./^/.  54.  but  his  Printer 

the/ccovd  ;  but  I  know  not  in  what  language.  Sir  Gelley 
Merrick,  who  was  concerned  in  the  harebrained  bufmefs 
of  the  Earl  of  EJJcx,  and  was  hanged  for  it  with  the  in- 
genious CuJJ'c  in  1601,  is  accufed  amongft  other  things, 
*'  quad  cxoietam  ""iragcediam  de  tragica  abdicatione  Re- 
gis Ricardi Jecundi  iii  publico  Thcatro  coram  Conjuratis 
data  pecunia  agi  curafTet." 

hath 


Learning  op  Shake  spf  are.  93 
hath  given  us  by  accident  the  word  Moother  inftead 
pf  Brother ;  as  it  is  in  the  Original,  and  ought  to  be 
in  Shakefpeare.  "^ 

I  hope,  my  good  Friend,  yoa  have  by  this  time 
acquitted  cur  great  Poet  of  all  piratical  depredations 
on  the  Ancients,  and  are  ready  to  receive  my  Con^ 
clufton.  —  He  remembered  perhaps  enough  of  his 
fchool-boy  learning  to  put  the  Hig,  hag,  hog,  into  the 
mouth  of  Sir  Hugh  Evans ;  and  might  pick  up  in 
the  Writers  of  the  time,  a  or  the  courfe  of  his  con- 

verfation 

*  I  cannot  take  my  leave  of  HJingJhed  without  clearing 
up  a  difficulty,  which  hath  puzzled  his  Biographers, 
Nicholfon  and  other  Writers  )\2Me  fuppofed  him  a  Clergyman. 
Tanner  goes  further,  and  tells  us,  that  he  was  educated 
at  Cambridge,  and  adlually  took  the  Degree  of  M.  A.  in 

154.4.. Yet  it  appears  by  his  Will,  printed  by  Hearney 

that  at  the  end  of  life  he  was  only  a  Steward,  or  a  Ser- 
<vant  in  fome  capacity  or  other,  to  Tho?nas  Burdett  Efq; 
of  Bromcote  in  Warvjickjhire.  —  Thefe  things  Dr.  Camp- 
bell could  not  reconcile.  The  truth  is,  we  have  no  claim 
to  the  education  of  the  Chronicler  :  the  M.  A.  in  1544, 
was  not  Raphael,  but  one  Ottinvell  Holingjhed,  who  was 
afterward  named  by  the  Founder  one  of  the  firft  Fellows 
oi  Trinity  College. 

^  Afcham  in  the  Epiftle  prefixed  to  his  Tvxophilus,  i^yi, 
obferves  of  them,  that  "  Manye  Englijhe  wnters,  ufmge 
ftraunge  wordes,  as  La/tine,  Frenche,  and  Italian,  do  make 
all  thinges  darke  and  harde.  Ones,  fays  he,  1  communed 
with  a  man  which  reafoned  the  Englijhe  tongue  to  be  en- 
riched and  encreafei  thereby,  fayinge  :  Who  will  not 
prayfe  that  feaft,  where  a  man  fhali  drincke  at  a  dinner 
both  wync,  ale,  and  beere  ?  Truly  (quoth  I)  they  be 

A 


o^  AnESSAYonthe 

verfation  a  familiar  phrafe  or  two  of  French  or  Italian : 
but  his  Studies  were  mod  demonftratively  confined 
to  Nature  and  his  own  Language. 

In  the  courfe  of  this  difquifition,  you  have  often 
fmiled  at  "  all  fuch  reading,  as  was  never  read :" 
and  pofllbly  I  may  have  indulged  it  too  far:  but  it  is 
the  reading  neceflary  for  a  Comment  on  Skakejpeare. 
Thofe  who  apply  folely  to  the  Ancients  for  this  pur- 
pofe,  may  with  equal  wifdom  ftudy  the  Talmud 
for  an  Expofition  of  Tristram  Shandy.  Nothing 
but  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  Writers  of 
the  time,  who  are  frequently  of  no  other  value,  can 
point  out  his  allufions,  and  afcertain  his  Phrafeology. 
The  Reformers  of  his  Text  are  for  ever  equally  po- 
fitive,  and  equally  wrong.  The  Cant  of  the  Age,  a 
provincial  Exprefilon,  an  obfcure  Proverb,  an  obfo- 
Jcte  Cuftom,  a  Hint  at  a  Perfon  or  a  Fad  no  longer 
remembered,  hath  continually  defeated  the  befl:  of 
pur  Gucjfcrs :  You  mud  not  fuppofe  me  to  fpeak  at 
random,  when  I  allure  you,  that  from  fome  forgot- 
ten book  or  other,  I  can  demonftrate  this  to  you  in 
many  hundred  Places  j  and  I  ahnoft  wifii,  that  I 
had  not  been  perfuaded  into  a  different  Employment. 

a1  good,  euery  one  taken  by  himfelfe  alone,  but  if  you 
put  Malmefye,  and  facke,  redde  wyne  and  white,  ale 
and  beere,  and  al  in  one  pot,  you  fliall  make  a  drinke 
neither  eafye  to  be  knowen,  nor  yet  holfome  for  the 
bodye.'* 

Tho» 


Learning  of  Shakespeare.      95 

Tho'  I  have  as  much  of  the  Natale  Solum  about 

me,  as  any  man  whatfoevei- ;  yet,  I  own,  the  Prim- 

rofe  Path  is  ftill  more  pleafing  than  the  Fojje  or  the 

Watl'mg  Street  : 

*'  Age  cannot  wither  It,  nor  cuilom  ftale 
It's  infinite  variety." 

And  when  I  am  fairly  rid  of  the  Duft  of  topogra- 
phical Antiquity,  which  hath  continued  much  longer 
about  me  than  I  expedled  ;  you  may  very  probably 
be  troubled  again  with  the  ever  fruitful  SubjecSl  of 
Shakespeare  and  his  Commentators. 


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